Homecoming
by UpToMe
Summary: Jack finally comes home from the battle up north, but he and Elizabeth have some more things to learn and adjust to before they start their lives together. This was going to be a one-shot, but thanks to the wonderful reviews, I decided I might try to add a few more chapters. I thank you for reading and hope you enjoy! *Disclaimer: I own nothing re: WCTH except for my own words
1. Chapter 1

Things had been getting more difficult. It had started soon after the accident when Jack had been knocked off of his horse and almost drowned with the heavy rains and flooding the year before. Elizabeth had been so incredibly terrified she was going to lose him. She still scarcely believed he had survived it all and would find herself glancing sideways at him or reaching out to touch him to reassure herself that he was not just a figment of her imagination for at least 6 months after the day he awoke to her leaning over him. She felt like after everything they had been through, they were as good as married and that meant staying in control was harder and harder to do.

But, then, he had taken the call to head to the Northern Territories. She had watched the inner battle within him to do what was right for them and what he felt was his duty for his position and his country. He knew that he could stay behind; he had his lifetime assignment. But, she had seen how torn he felt knowing what was going on up there while he stayed comfortably with her and eventually, she knew that she had to let him go. She had long accepted that she could not control what happened to him and had instead decided that she would spend her days in the here and now, thanking God and Providence for every moment they shared together, praying to share a long life, but knowing that if something happened, she would have enough memories to last her a lifetime. Truth be told, she had admired his sense of loyalty and duty and it had made him all the more attractive to her, knowing that he would always meet life's challenges head on with determination to do what was right. It had made her desire him even more, but the events leading up to his departure, including his proposal, had happened so quickly, she didn't have time to worry about propriety. Their final kiss on the street had been just a prelude to what she had wanted to do, but with the whole town watching, it had instead been about conveying feelings than squelching desires.

But now he was home. He had left her with a broken heart, but a ring on her finger, several months before. His letters had been few; there was no time to write often and the postal service up there was mediocre at best. But, what he did write about was what he envisioned for their life together and very little about the conditions he faced. He had left in the spring, but had returned 10 months later, after spending days and nights in the brutal cold. But, that frigid weather was what had finally given the Mounties the advantage they needed and they had been able to flush out the criminals simply because they had been better supplied to survive the harsh conditions of subzero temperatures and cutting winds.

Even though he had been back for several days, he still didn't talk much about what had happened up there. She had tried at first to drag it out of him, thinking that he may want to talk about it, but felt it was something she would not want to hear, so he kept it inside as to not worry her unnecessarily. But, instead, he had told her that it was over and done with now and he really didn't want to have to rehash it; that he was far more interested in focusing on their future together than his time in the frozen tundra amidst the other men, horses, snow and both bitter cold and loneliness. He had stayed alive and focused by imaging her in his arms, in front of their fire, and now that he had made it back, he never wanted to entertain the memories of the experience again.

When he had ridden back, he hadn't even stopped at the livery to drop off his horse or the jail to clean up. Several people had tried to stop him and speak to him as he rode through town, but all he would do was wave politely without even slowing down; he was a man on a mission. He was not going to stop until he reached her front door.

It had been early evening when he had jumped off his horse and bolted up the front steps before pounding on the door. Elizabeth had been preparing to cook her supper when she had been surprised and a bit frightened by the commotion and was hesitant to see who was on the other side. With a racket like that, her heart stood still, as it was obviously someone who had something very important to tell her. Her knees buckled slightly when she made it to the portal and threw the lock, the thought that it was perhaps Abigail, Bill or even Frank coming to tell her some awful news about Jack forefront in her mind, but she drew upon the years of good breeding and education to steady herself for whatever storm awaited her on the other side of the thick wood.

When she opened the door, she let out a small squeak of recognition before flying into his arms; the impact was almost enough to throw them both off of the porch. She had her arms wrapped tightly around him, her hands clasped behind his neck as she smothered him with kisses. Even her legs, which were restricted by her long skirts, had managed to wind themselves around his ankles, so she clung to him like a very long knapsack. His arms encircled her waist, his lips finding hers, both of them completely unaware of the small semi-circle of fellow residents who had gathered around to welcome him home and were watching their embrace.

Eventually, they came up for air and she smiled shyly at him to which he responded by swinging her around in the air, his joy apparent. When he put her down, she reached up and grabbed his face between her hands and gave him a scorching kiss, absolutely oblivious to anything but her desire for him. Without even seeing those who had gathered, he grabbed his bag and put an arm around her shoulders, leading her in through her front door and shutting it firmly behind them.

He led her straight to the settee, where he made sure she sat and then joined her. He couldn't get close enough to her. He wanted to feel every inch of her on him, needing her presence to make this feel real instead of another dream. He had dreamed of her nightly; sometimes his dreams were so vivid and heated he worried that he had revealed way too much to his fellow bunkmates. There were times when he could swear her naked body was lying next to his, limbs entangled, her silky hair draped across his torso, her hand gently stroking him, and he was sure that he had not been silent before he awoke in a fog of sweat, delirium and desire. Thankfully, no one ever said anything directly to him, but he was sure it was only because he was a commanding officer. He had spent enough time around the other men that he knew that if he had been a rookie, he would have never heard the end of the nocturnal liberties to which he had alluded to in his dreams.

After he kissed her a few more times, his hand cupped around her cheek, his fingers entangled in the hair at the base of her neck, he looked up and asked her, "Do you have anything on the stove?"

She merely bit her lip and shook her head, before delving back into his soft mouth, covering his with her own and sucking his bottom lip gently. As the kiss grew in fervor, he knew he ought to stop her, but he didn't want to. Instead, he had merely assisted her when she had clamored up onto his lap, her fingers playing with the longer-than-normal hair at the back of his neck.

He rubbed her back as they kissed some more, his hands studying the boning on her corset and the softer flesh in the panels between. As she slipped her tongue into his mouth, he let out an involuntary groan and pulled her closer to him. After a few more minutes, something dawned on him.

"Elizabeth?" he asked her, to which she responded with a "Hmmm?" without ever taking her lips off of his.

He laughed softly when he attempted to pull back to talk to her and she had just followed him, unwilling to separate. "Elizabeth…," he tried again.

"Yes?" she answered, sounding drowsy with longing.

"It just dawned on me that I haven't had a bath or a shave in I don't know how long! I must smell something horrible. I can't even imagine… Sweat, horse, mud… Sweetheart, I should really go home and get cleaned up."

"No," she told him simply.

"No?"

"No!"

"But, Elizabeth…," he tried again.

"You always smell like horse, so that is nothing new. You have come from the cold in the Northern Territories, so you couldn't have sweated much, and most importantly, it wouldn't matter if you did. Now that I have you, I am never letting you go again!"

He laughed at her. "Is that so?" he teased, his eyes dancing with mischief.

"Absolutely!"

"Well, I have to go home eventually. I can't stay here; we aren't married."

"At this point, Jack, I really don't care!"

"Well, I do. I don't want to be responsible for ruining your reputation!"

"I think everyone in town would understand," she countered.

"I think that is being very optimistic, my darling. I can name five people right now on one hand who would be in a tizzy if they thought anything unseemly was happening here, Florence being number one on that list."

"So, what she doesn't know won't hurt her!"

"Elizabeth…," he tried again, hoping that he sounded more determined than he felt. "Honestly, sweetheart, I know we have never talked about our… expectations… but I always assumed that you would want to remain pure until you were married."

"Would you care if I wasn't?" she asked and it caught him off guard. He knew that they had never done anything terribly inappropriate together, but it dawned on him that he really had no idea about her courting life before they met and he had to shut his eyes against the sudden vision of Charles and her lying together indisposed.

"No…," he answered slowly. "Not really."

"Not really?" she asked him.

"No, I would be surprised, because I thought you were, but I guess it wouldn't matter one way or the other. I love you!"

She studied him for a long time, her head cocked to one side, her contemplation of his words apparent on her face until he could see the exact second she came to the conclusion that he was telling her the truth.

Then, it came out of the blue. The question he had been dreading for a long time and had hoped he would never have to answer.

"What about you?"

"I'm sorry?" he tried to stall.

"I said, 'What about you?'"

"What about me?" he asked, trying to be coy, hoping to redirect her.

"What about you, Jack? Will you be pure on our wedding night?"

His stomach sank. He had never wanted to lie so much in his life, but he knew that if they were going to be married, he had to tell her the truth. "Sadly, no." he answered quietly.

"What?" she asked, jumping off of his lap and standing in front of him.

"Just what I said."

He watched her intently, wondering what her next move would be.

Then, the other shoe dropped; the truly dreaded question. "Who was she?" she whispered, even though she had a pretty good idea and it made her feel like she had a stone in her stomach.

"Who?" she asked again when he seemed to hesitate in answering.

He looked absolutely miserable, almost like he wanted to cry. He glanced up at her, still standing in front of him, hands on her hips, and she reminded of him of when he was a child, being scolded for some infraction, wishing he could just sink down through the chair and floor.

He stared down at the hardwood beneath his feet. "Rosie," he answered quietly, his face scrunched up like he was awaiting a slap that never came. After a few seconds, he opened one eye and saw her looking at him, her hands down by her sides, like a defeated child.

"Listen, Elizabeth," he spoke quickly. "It was one time! It was right before I left for the academy, the night we got engaged. She broke it off a few nights later. I didn't mean for it to happen, but… well… we were kissing and one thing led to another and…"

She held up her hand to stop him.

"What?" he asked, his nervousness apparent.

"I don't want to hear any more."

"Are you angry?" he asked quietly.

"No, I suppose not," she answered slowly. "It was a long time ago."

"It was. And, truly, I never meant for it to happen. We had just known each other all of our lives. We were comfortable with each other. We were both scared of the unknown and took comfort in one another. I wish now that it never would have happened, but I was young and undisciplined and…"

"Does Lee know?"

"I don't know. I have never told him and never will. I am not sure if she has, but I would never ask her."

He took a big breath and continued, "Honestly, Elizabeth, my heart stopped when I saw her talking to you on the street a few years ago. The first thing that went through my mind after it registered it was her was wondering if we had a child together and that's why she had come. I had never been so relieved in my life to know that, at least, hadn't happened!"

She sank back into the settee beside him and leaned her head back on the wooden frame at the top. She took a deep breath as he turned sideways a bit to study her.

"I guess I am not surprised," she told him. "I know how men are. To be honest, I would have assumed that you would have had a lot more experience just based on your position. You do look very nice in your uniform and women tend to love strong, competent men."

"Yes, a lot of the recruits spent their nights with women while we were in the academy. The uniform seemed to hide a multitude of sins and make us especially hot commodities, but I was too heartbroken to even care about it at the time. I am glad now that I didn't."

They sat in silence for a long time, both looking at the other, before he finally reached out and took her hand. "I'm sorry," he told her, his eyes full of shame and fear.

"I'm not upset, Jack. Like I said, it was a long time ago, long before we ever met. I just wish it hadn't have been her. Not only because of how jealous I was, but because I see her every day and I now know this about her. I know she has shared a part of you that I haven't yet and it does make me envious, mostly because Lord knows I want to be with you in every sense of the word. It will make things feel awkward for me," she answered. "But, to be honest with you, I am not surprised. I figured there was something more to your story when she followed you here all the way from New York."

"Yes, I figure that she was ready to settle down and thought I was a safe bet; a sure thing," he responded. "Thank God Lee got here when he did!"

They sat quietly together on the settee and he reached up and lifted her hand to his lips. When she looked at him, he smiled weakly and asked, "Are we okay?"

She nodded. "I think we are."

"You aren't angry or disappointed with me, are you?"

"I am not going to lie; it shocked me. But, honestly, you are a man who has been on his own for quite awhile. It isn't unusual. The only difference is that I would have never asked anyone else."

"Why is that?"

"Because I never would have felt comfortable enough with someone else," she told him simply, and for some reason, his heart soared.

"Not even Charles?" he asked, almost afraid of her answer.

"Especially not Charles! It just isn't something that people talk openly about where I am from. Sure, there are scandals and whispers in dark corners, but it is just understood that women are to be pure and men… Well… No one seems to care as much about what they do. But I have always wondered… For every fallen man, there must be a fallen woman, right? I have often pondered just who these women are. I have also wondered how many couples cross the line as they are waiting between their engagements and weddings? I mean, who would know? But, again, it is not something people speak openly about in polite company. Ever."

"So, I am not polite company, is that what you are telling me?" he asked her with a grin.

"No, you aren't. You are my best friend, my fiancé, the man I love. I intend to have no secrets from you and hope you feel the same about me. I could never marry a man I didn't trust completely."

"You still trust me, though, right?" he asked, cringing a bit. "I mean even though…"

"Of course I still trust you. As far as I know, you have never lied to me, even maybe when you really wanted to, including right now."

"You have no idea how much I wish the truth would have been different," he sad, his disappointment with himself evident in the defeated tone of his voice.

They were silent again for a few moments, each lost in their own thoughts. Finally, she asked, "Honestly only one time?"

"Swear to God! And, to be even more truthful, it was over almost as soon as it started," he added, cheeks and even his ears blazing, mortified he had admitted that to her before he had thought better of it.

He looked up and met her eyes, which were open wide with surprise.

"No secrets, remember?" he joked nervously.

"No secrets," she affirmed while nodding her head.

He saw a look pass quickly over her face and asked, "What are you thinking?"

She leaned over and ran a finger up the buttons of his uniform before stopping and looking up into his face. "I was thinking that I can't wait until we don't have to act like polite company," she said, as she began to unbutton his jacket.

He groaned in response. "Me, either," he stated before pulling her back onto his lap for a passion-filled kiss.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to the wonderfully encouraging reviews, I have decided to continue this story on instead of it being a one-shot. I hope you will continue to read and enjoy it! There will be some pretty steamy moments; our two main characters are adults who are engaged and have been separated for a long while. I will warn at the top if it is anything too crazy. Thanks for the support!**

Chapter 2

He finally had to part from her. He was breathing too fast, his heart was pumping too hard. Lord, he wanted her and he wanted her badly! He had never been quite so uncomfortable in his clothing as he was at that moment: They were tight, he was hot and he definitely was bothered. He ran his hand down her side and wondered how on earth she could still be in her corset and not pass out. It seemed as if the collective body heat from the two of them would ignite the settee at any second.

"Elizabeth, I have to go!" he told her, forcing himself away from her.

"Not yet," she mumbled, her lips traveling down his neck. He closed his eyes in ecstasy. When her lips got as far as his shirt collar, he gently grabbed her shoulders and held her at arms' length.

"Really, Lizzie, I can't take much more of this!" he begged her, surprising himself by using a name for her he had never used, but his mother had. Well, that certainly did it; nothing like channeling his mother in the heat of the moment to bring him back to reality!

"I am not kidding, Jack. I am never letting you go!" she told him, her eyes darkened by her dilated pupils. She was no where near ready to stop.

"Four years!" she continued slowing down and giving him a kiss from his ear and down the side of his neck between each individual word, feeling herself getting heady off of the faint musky odor his body was emitting. "Four long, impossibly frustrating, sometimes terrifying, years!"

"Elizabeth…," he started, but she stopped him by kissing him hard on the lips.

"My horse," he mumbled against her mouth.

"What?" she said while she looked up in surprise.

"My horse! He is still outside. Oh, Lord! I don't think I even remembered to tie him up!" he exclaimed as he jumped up off of the settee, leaving her feeling alone, cold and lonely.

He made it to the front door in record time, leaving it open as he looked around. She could tell he was worried, wondering where the horse had taken off to, when he looked down and saw that there was a note on the top step where the horse had been, held there by a rock. He picked it up and read,

 _Jack,_

 _I figured you would be otherwise occupied for awhile, so I took the liberty of taking your horse to the livery. Welcome home!_

 _-Bill_

Jack sighed with gratitude and hurried back inside. "Bill's got him," he told her.

"Good!" she nodded, ready to pick up where they had left off and beyond.

"But, sweetheart, I really need to go. I don't want to, but really, I have to."

"Jack, it isn't even all that late. Please stay with me! I am not ready to let you out of my sight yet."

"I need a bath! I can barely stand myself!"

"So, take one here!"

"Elizabeth...," he warned.

"I have a washtub, towels, water, soap and a stove."

"I don't have any clean clothes!"

"That's unfortunate!" she said, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

He smiled as he shook his head. "You are impossible, you know that? I swear, you are the most tenacious, stubborn woman in the world!"

She tilted her head as she told him, "You say that like it is a bad thing!"

"No, not a bad thing," he quipped back. "It's an impossible thing. I am trying to do the right thing here, but you are not making it easy!"

"Who says it is the right thing?"

"Everyone! You know that!"

"I think we can decide for ourselves what is right and what is wrong, don't you?"

He groaned in response. He was in agony.

"Will you let me go if I promise to come back?"

"No."

"No?"

"No!"

"Elizabeth, what do you want from me?"

"I don't want anything from you; I just want _you_!"

He closed his eyes and sighed in frustration. She was killing him. She truly had no idea the effect she was having on him and how he hard he was fighting himself from grabbing her and running up the stairs to her room.

"What if you come into town with me and stay with Abigail while I bathe and get cleaned up?"

"Perhaps," she answered, thinking that she wished he would just take her upstairs already, but never would be brazen enough to suggest it herself.

"Now we are getting somewhere!" he responded, as he extended his hand to her to help her up.

He went to get his bag, but she stopped him. "Leave it!" she told him. "I'll take care of it for you."

"Elizabeth, it is full of dirty, nasty clothes. It is pretty hard to do laundry when it is 30 below and a battle zone."

He saw the look of horror sweep across her face. "You mean you haven't washed your clothes in 10 months?"

He laughed at her expression, "Welcome to war, sweetheart. Not quite as romantic as everyone thinks!" he paused, before continuing. "But, yes, I have washed my clothes a few times in 10 months. We were lucky that some of the native women in the nearby villages were willing to wash our clothing in return for some of our supplies. It was a good trade, especially once their men were out working the trap lines. Things can get pretty lean for them sometimes in winter."

"Oh!" she said. "That was nice of them."

"I wouldn't say it was nice," he told her. "The soap they use is made with bear lard and it smells pretty hideous. I am not so sure that cleaning the clothes was ultimately that much better than us just wearing them for 10 months. I kept one shirt out of rotation the whole time until I headed home, because once I was out of there, I didn't want to smell that smell again!"

"Jack?"

"Yes?"

"You do realize that we are engaged, right?"

"Of course! I was there when I put that ring on your finger, if you remember."

"Well, don't you think that I am going to do your laundry once we are married?

"Wait! When did you start doing laundry? I remember that was the one thing my ma said about me marrying you. She asked if I knew you sent your laundry out to be washed." He chuckled at the memory of his mother's horror that someone would actually spend money to do something so basic. That, above all else, despite all of Elizabeth's fancy clothing, shoes, jewelry, hair combs and hats, had made her think that perhaps her soon-to-be daughter-in-law was a spendthrift in accordance with her elite upbringing.

"Ten months is a long time, Jack. I had a lot of opportunity to learn how to be a wife in your absence. Having Abigail teach me what I need to know was the best way I could think of to fill my time while you were away."

"Even so, I love you way too much to subject you to what lies in that bag! In fact, I love you entirely too much to have you clean any part of my uniform ever. My job can be messy and disgusting and you shouldn't have to deal with the fallout."

"I don't care," she insisted.

"Well, I do!"

"Well, I don't. It will serve as a great reason to get you out of it!" she looked up at him coyly through her lashes.

"To town! Now!" he ordered, grabbing her hand and then reaching down for his bag.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Their walk to town took three times as long as normal because they kept stopping and kissing along the way. The air was still frigid in the early spring evening and every time the end of his cold nose touched hers, she would get a chill through her body. He took that as their signal to move on until one of them couldn't wait anymore and the whole process began again.

He walked her over to the jail and sat her in the desk chair while he put a couple of big pails of water on the stove to heat. He pulled out his wash tub and gathered some towels and clean undergarments from his bureau. Elizabeth couldn't help but stare at his drawers on top of the pile of clothes, thinking about a time in the very near future when she would be seeing him in them and she felt her face flush. He noticed and followed her gaze and his eyes widened in surprise. He cleared his throat and asked, "You ready to head over to Abigail's?"

"I suppose," she sighed, wanting to do nothing but stay within arm's reach of him.

"I'll be quick, I promise, and then I will go over there."

She nodded and held her hand out to him as he reached for her to help her stand. Of course, she couldn't resist taking another opportunity to wrap her arms tight around his middle and squeezing. When he looked down and chuckled at her exuberance, she met his lips once more and by the time their clinch was over, his bath water was almost boiling.

He walked her to Abigail's, kissed her again for good measure, turned around and went back to the jail. As he pulled the shade and locked the door, he began to undress, feeling like his clothes were stuck to his skin, almost as if his body had begun to absorb them. He had never felt freer than the moment he was naked as the day he was born and sunk himself into the tub.

The tub was not deep. In fact, he was sure that it looked comical to be a grown man trying to fit inside of one as men don't generally fold up as well as women. That got him thinking about Elizabeth and wondering about all of the possible ways she may be able to… "STOP IT!" he told himself, taking in a deep, cleansing breath.

Normally, he would stay on his knees, and just pour the water over his head and down, wiping up the floor around him later. But, this time, he felt he needed to sit. The warm water felt amazing on his saddle-weary backside and legs and he relished the temperature. The few times the men had enough down time to actually bathe had not been pleasant in the late fall and winter. The subzero temperatures made even the hottest water cool in a matter of minutes and the amount of time it took to gather and melt the snow needed for a bath had hardly been worth it. Instead, they had just sort of spot cleaned in the worst parts when they could and thanked God that it was so cold, their noses hardly worked, anyway. Jack wondered if women really knew just how unhygienic men in large groups could be. It most certainly wasn't civilized, but in the heat of battle, no one really cared how filthy the guy next to him was, as long as he kept his weapon loaded and pointed in the right direction.

As he soaped his hair and scrubbed, he chuckled to himself that from what he had observed, the Mounties hadn't been kidding for most of their men: If they were supposed to have a wife, the only way they would have gotten one was to be issued one. He had noticed pretty quickly that the married and courting men tried a lot harder to stay clean and presentable than those who were obviously bachelors and hadn't ever gotten used to having to impress anyone. Single Mounties, stationed alone in the middle of nowhere didn't care how they looked or smelled. In fact, they didn't care about much of anything except eating, sleeping, and playing cards. Those were the men who looked at him sideways, having heard the rumors, but not really believing, about how the decorated, stoic Officer Thornton was a goner and had a beautiful heiress at home, pining away for him.

Uncomfortable with his arms on his knees, his back pushing into the side of the tub, he still didn't get out of the water until he began to get cold. It dawned on him that he had better get a move on before Elizabeth came back and broke his door down. He had anticipated that she would be excited to see him; her letters had been full of her longings for him to come back to her. What he hadn't expected was how physical she would be. He had thought he would have to be the one to hold himself in check and not make her feel pressured, like he was wanting more from her than she was willing to give, because Lord knew he desired her. But, it was he who had been shocked by the ferocity of her need for him, especially given her society upbringing. But, from the time she had opened her door to when she left him at the café, she hadn't gone more than about five minutes total without having some sort of physical contact with him and if they had stayed any longer at her house, his resolve would have been completely gone.

He dried himself off and had just put on his drawers and undershirt when he heard the doorknob rattle. He smiled, thinking he was right; she was more than ready for him to be finished. His eyes opened in surprise, though, when he heard a key slide into the lock and saw the knob turn.

"Hello!" he called out, grabbing desperately for his pants and trying to pull them on.

"Hey, Jack!" Bill called out as he came through the door. His eyes widened a bit, but, he quickly shut the door and locked it behind him.

"Hi, Bill!"

"Sorry! I didn't mean to intrude; I thought you were still at Elizabeth's. In fact, I was beginning to wonder if I would ever see you back here again! I figured you were hunkered down at her place for good!"

"Bill!" Jack exclaimed.

Jack walked over to the mirror and grabbed his straight razor and foamed himself up with his shaving brush. He noticed Bill studying him through the mirror.

"Just saying it like it is, Jack. She's a beautiful woman, you have been apart for a long time and she is your fiancée. No judgment here!" Bill replied, holding his hands up in a conciliatory fashion.

Jack tried to think of something honorable to say, but he just opened his mouth and shut it again. He instead began concentrating on shaving without cutting himself to shreds. He was still too worked up to do two things at once.

Bill sat down at the desk and watched the younger man. "Feel good to get cleaned up proper?"

"You have no idea!"

"Oh, Jack! Remember who you are talking to here! I know exactly how good it feels to come home and get cleaned up. In fact, we used to laugh about getting home to a good bath, a good meal, a good whiskey, and then a good bed with a good woman!"

Jack's mouth fell open. "Really?" he exclaimed.

"Really. And you know who started it?" he asked.

"No."

"Your pa!"

"What?" Jack was astounded. His pa had never been anything but proper and respectable at home.

"Oh, yeah, son. A day's ride out from your ma and he would get real antsy. The rest of us used to tease him like crazy. Well, until the rest of found more than a good bath and a good whiskey," Bill chuckled.

Jack was quiet for a few minutes and Bill noticed a shadow fall across his features.

"You miss him, don't you, Jack?"

"Oh, yeah! All of the time."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry he didn't see the kind of man you grew up to be. He would have been busting out of the buttons on his uniform, kid."

Jack wiped off the residual foam off of his face with his towel and turned around. "Ah… So much better!" he exclaimed. "A little fuzz feels good in the cold, but I was terrified I was going to mark Elizabeth all up."

"No hiding what you two were doing if that had happened!" Bill agreed.

"Nothing happened, Bill. Not really. We were just kissing."

Bill said nothing, which gave Jack a little more courage. "But, it took everything in me to keep it that way!"

"She's excited to have you home?"

"Excited is a bit of an understatement! Bill…?"

"Yeah?"

"I have to ask. How will I make it until the wedding? I have never wanted anything as much as I want her!"

"Do you want to hear the answer I am supposed to tell you, or what I really think?"

"Both, I guess."

"So, the answer I am supposed to tell you is don't be alone with her. Plan the wedding quickly. It is still cold outside; take advantage of it when you need to."

"And the one you think?"

"I think that you are both adults. You have been in love for a very long time and have been extremely patient. You are engaged to be married and I believe that if it were up to the two of you, with no expectations from any outside influences, you would be standing in front of Frank with me and Abigail as your witnesses before the night was over."

"And?"

"And it is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission!" he laughed. "But, you two have to do what is best for you: It is ultimately your relationship, your marriage. If all the ceremony would be is a formality and you know without a shadow of a doubt you want to spend the rest of your life with her and she feels the same, then only the two of you can dictate the correct timing of anything."

"You really think so?"

"I do," Bill told him solemnly. "And what's more is that I know your pa, had he been here with you, having seen the love you and Elizabeth share, would have said the same. Jack, it is truly between the two of you and God. No one else has a right to tell you anything."

Jack nodded and took a deep breath. "Thanks, Bill. I appreciate your candor."

"Kid, I have known you a long time. You are a good man and one hell of a Mountie. You make us all proud. I know I am not your pa, but I feel like I can give you a bit of fatherly advice. Go and take that amazing woman to the church as soon as possible and start your lives together, regardless of what you decide about what happens between the two of you in your physical relationship. At this point, no one doubts that you belong together. The rest is just a formality."

Jack finished buttoning his flannel shirt and grabbed his jacket. "Feels good to get out of uniform!" he said with a smile, while grabbing his coat and shoving his arms through. "Now, if you excuse me, I have to get back to my beautiful fiancée."


	4. Chapter 4

**This chapter doesn't have steam, per se, but thanks to the culture during the Victorian Era, many women, especially those who were "of good breading" where essentially clueless about their own anatomy, that of the opposite gender, and what they could expect after their nuptials. I have taken advantage of this and Abigail's role as a mother figure to have her help Elizabeth decipher what she was feeling and what she should expect. However, while descriptive, it is not terribly explicit.**

Chapter 4

As soon as he left her there at the café, she began to feel like she was hyperventilating. She stood just inside the door to Abigail's kitchen, taking big gulps of air into her lungs, convinced that she couldn't breathe. It was as if his leaving had taken with him all the oxygen from the room and her body was dying for more.

Abigail came back into the kitchen and turned to see Elizabeth's chest rising and falling quickly, constricted by her corset, her eyes full of tears. "Elizabeth!" she cried out, rushing towards her.

"I… I am all right, Abigail," she panted. "I just… need to sit down!"

Abigail took her elbow and led her to the settee. She watched as her friend sat and tried to steady her breathing, not saying a word, but concern written all over her features.

After a few minutes, she could see that Elizabeth was doing better and her breathing had slowed. She studied her face and asked, "Elizabeth? What happened? Is everything okay with Jack?"

Elizabeth nodded to her. "I don't know, Abigail. He left me here to go and get cleaned up and the minute he left, I felt like I couldn't breathe."

"Ah!" Abigail responded.

"This is not me, Abigail; I am not like this! I am a strong, independent woman! I don't become a simpering fool anytime my man leaves me! I came West all by myself, for heaven's sake! I just spent ten months without seeing him and now I hyperventilate when I know he is just going across the street to take a bath?"

"Elizabeth," Abigail started. "I don't think that you became a simpering fool. I believe that you are in shock that he is here in the flesh. I think that your body is reacting to all of the emotions that have come to the surface in such a short amount of time."

"Possibly," Elizabeth agreed.

"First things first: Go upstairs and get out of that corset! That isn't helping things!"

"But, Abigail!" Elizabeth whispered, "Then I won't have any… you know… support garments!"

"So what? You will still have your slip and your chemise, right? Besides, you don't always wear a corset, do you?"

"No, not always…" Elizabeth answered. "But, I… I think… I…"

"What is it?"

"I think it is best that I do right now!" she spat out quickly.

"Why is that?" Abigail asked, surprise apparent in her voice.

"Well, because Jack is back."

"Oh, Elizabeth! Don't be silly! Jack doesn't care if you are in your corset or not!"

"No, but I care!" Elizabeth countered with a tip of her chin.

"Jack is so excited to see you, I am sure that he doesn't care if you don't look as put together as always!"

"It isn't that…,"Elizabeth started.

"Then what is it?" Abigail interrupted her.

"I just… need another layer!"

"Another layer?" asked a very confused Abigail.

"Yes, another layer."

"I am confused. Why do you need another layer?"

"I need another layer that is… difficult…."

"Yes?" prodded Abigail.

"Difficult… to… get out of!" Elizabeth finished in a hurry and watched as the weight of her words sunk in and Abigail began to smile.

"Oh! I see! Jack must be very excited to see you, then," she said with a wink.

"No. Well, he is, but…"

"But what?"

"Abigail, it is me!" Elizabeth cried out hopelessly, dropping her hands primly into her lap, her head bowed down like a naughty child.

Abigail couldn't help it; she began to laugh. Hard.

"Oh, sweetie," was all she could say between her bursts of folly.

"Abigail!" Elizabeth whined. "This isn't funny! I don't know what to do. From the minute I saw him on the porch to the minute he had me in the jail, all I have wanted to do was to strip him down and have… have my way with him."

Abigail's howls of laughter echoed throughout the kitchen, tears running down her cheeks. She finally calmed down enough to see that her friend was truly very distraught and wiped her eyes before she reached out and took one of Elizabeth's hands in her.

"Oh, Elizabeth, my dear, sweet friend. You have nothing to be ashamed of. You are _supposed_ to feel that way about the man you are going to marry! If you didn't, I would be worried! And, I hate to tell you this, but based on personal experience, a corset isn't quite the protection you think it will be."

Elizabeth's eyes opened wide at her friend's admission. "What? You and Noah?" she asked incredulously.

"Oh, yes!" Abigail confirmed. "Now, don't take that to mean that we were completely inappropriate before we were married, but let's just say that when things get… ummm… heated, things you think you would never do suddenly seem harder to control and prevent."

"Abigail?" Elizabeth asked, "did you and Noah…," Elizabeth made a few circular hand gestures in her lap to make up for her lack of vocabulary regarding this subject. "You know… Come together… completely… before you were married?"

"Oh, no!" Abigail stated firmly. "We most definitely did not!"

"Oh!" Elizabeth said, truthfully feeling a little disappointed. If her best friend had admitted to caving before her wedding, then she wouldn't feel so torn and guilty about her own burgeoning lack of willpower.

"But," Abigail said, holding up one finger to make her point. "As I told you before, Noah and I were married a little more than two weeks after we first met."

"And?"

"And, Elizabeth, we were both so very young and I can tell you that if I had had to wait four years to be with him and were the age you are now, I think my answer to your question would be very different. We couldn't hardly keep our hands off each other in the last few days leading up to our wedding day. Let's just say, there wasn't much opportunity with my large family and what we did was limited to the kissing and cuddling we could get away with in the hayloft of my family's barn before my brothers or father discovered us. But, as I said before, corsets aren't as foolproof as one might think!" She gave Elizabeth a fast grin.

Elizabeth nodded her understanding. Then, out of the blue, she blurted, "How is it, Abigail? Is it as painful and awful as everyone says it is? Because, as it stands now, the way I am feeling, I can't believe that it is something I will only want to do to make him happy; my 'wifely duty', as everyone calls it!"

Abigail chuckled. "Oh, Elizabeth, don't worry! I can't imagine that you will find anything remotely dutiful about making love to Jack!"

"But, everyone says it will hurt!"

"First of all, who is everyone?"

"Well, my friends back home, mostly. Of course, there were whispers at school and then when we all got older, they heard things from their older, married siblings. Their sisters all seemed to only talk about how awful it is and their brothers would supposedly all complain that their wives only let them because it was their duty as a wife, but that they hated it and were as cold as fish, whatever that means!"

Suddenly something struck Abigail. Elizabeth was a rich city girl, not a farmer's daughter. She had grown up with three sisters in a large house, and most likely had never seen the copulation of barnyard animals. She thought of her own childhood, growing up in a small farmhouse with lots of brothers, and not a lot of privacy. She even recalled the soft sighs and sounds she sometimes heard in the night coming from her parents' bedroom on the other side of the wall from hers. Elizabeth had experienced none of that; family life on a prairie farm was much different than that in a mansion in Hamilton. She looked critically at her friend before asking her, "Elizabeth? Has anyone explained to you the act of love?"

Elizabeth shook her head slowly from side to side. "Sort of," she answered. "My governess taught us about our monthlies once Viola's came. My mother once told me that it is our womanly duty to give our husbands their liberties, at least occasionally, and if we just grin and bear it, it isn't too bad. I also know, thanks to my governess, that men and women need to come together to create a child."

"Have you ever seen a naked man?" Abigail inquired next, shaking her head at the very inadequate tutelage Elizabeth had been given on the subject.

"No!" Elizabeth stated abruptly, sounding a bit offended at the query.

"Oh, Lord!" Abigail said, looking up towards the ceiling. "Do you even have any idea about what a naked man looks like?"

"Well," Elizabeth said saucily, "I have seen drawings in anatomy books. I know that they certainly look differently than we do!"

"That's a start," Abigail sighed. Suddenly, it looked like it was going to be a long night. She shooed out her last remaining customers and finished cleaning up while she sent Elizabeth upstairs to remove her corset and was pleased to see when she came back down that her color had immediately improved. Thankfully, Cody was already in bed and Clara was out for the evening with Jessie. She put out a tea set and poured them each a cup, before sitting down and delving in.

"So, what are your questions?" she stated, thinking she would start there and work her way backwards until she knew how much Elizabeth truly knew.

"Well, what I really want to know is if will it be painful? And if it is, is it bearable or excruciating?"

"Let's start here. Do you know what happens when a man and a woman come together?"

"You mean, like do I know what… anatomy… goes where?"

"Yes."

"Oh! Well, I know what all the parts are called and what they are used for, but I am not exactly sure how it all works. I have read about the process in a few books," Elizabeth said softly, cheeks reddening, "but I haven't really been able to visualize what they are describing."

So, Abigail started back at the beginning, snickering at the looks of panic that would wash across Elizabeth's features at times. When she was finished, Elizabeth looked shocked and said nothing for a long while.

"How are you feeling, Elizabeth?"

"I am not exactly sure!" she answered, turning to look at her friend's face. "It seems so… complicated."

Abigail laughed. "It may seem that way, but I promise that it is very instinctual in the moment. Any more questions?"

"Well, I am still scared of the pain…" Elizabeth stated.

"I wouldn't call it pain, Elizabeth. If it is done right, which I am sure with how much Jack loves you, it will be, there could be some… discomfort. But, I promise it is bearable and eventually, even very pleasurable." She sighed before she continued, "I don't know why the women of your class describe it in such a dubious manner; perhaps it is not good form to admit that women can experiencing pleasure, but I guarantee that if it is done right, you will find it far from a chore the majority of the time. Of course, there may be sometimes where he may be desirous of you and you may not be feeling your best, but knowing Jack, he will be respectful of that. He is a good man, Elizabeth, and he adores you. Some women, sadly, aren't as lucky. Maybe they are the ones who have painted it such a bad light."

"So, is there always discomfort?"

"Oh, no! Only the first few times. If it were not pleasurable for both, I promise you that people wouldn't have so many children!" Abigail winked.

"Abigail, what about children?"

"What about them?"

"What do you do if you aren't ready for children right away?"

"Then you aren't ready to get married, Elizabeth. There are some ways," she added vaguely, "that men know about to lessen the likelihood of pregnancy, but truthfully, once you are married and having relations, you need to count on the possibility that you could get pregnant right away."

"Oh!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "I don't mean to pry, Abigail, but I have wondered why you and Noah didn't have more children?"

"Oh, we had a few more pregnancies; six in total, I think, but sadly, I lost every one of them, so Peter was the only one I got to keep." Abigail stated sadly.

"I am so sorry, Abigail."

"I am, too, honestly. But, I had many wonderful years raising Peter and now I have Cody and Becky. The Lord works in mysterious ways, Elizabeth, and He brings us what we need when we need it."

Elizabeth nodded and got up off the settee. She wandered to the front of the café and pulled back the curtain, giving her a good look at the jail across the street. She saw that the shade was still drawn, but she could see the little slivers of light that were emitted on each side and wondered to herself if she were to walk over there and peak through, like she tried to do when Jack was negotiating to buy his property, would she be able to see Jack in the tub? Her heartbeat harder in her chest at the idea, curiosity and desire driving her to walk back for her coat.

Abigail looked up in surprise and was about to ask where she was going when there came a knock at the door. Jack turned the knob when Abigail bid him to come in and stepped inside, looking between the two women. He turned to Elizabeth and his gaze traveled to the coat in her hands. "Miss me?" he asked her cheekily, his dimples showing.

"You have no idea!" she answered, before falling into his arms.


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay… Getting steamy! Enjoy!**

Chapter 5

Elizabeth felt herself instantly relax the minute Jack's strong arms surrounded her. She felt herself tear up and sniffled so he looked down and tipped her chin up to look at her, concern all over his face.

"Hey! Hey, Elizabeth! What's this? Why the tears?"

"I'm so sorry, Jack! I don't know!"

"Jack, Elizabeth is struggling a bit right now with knowing what to do with all of these big feelings she is experiencing," Abigail told him with a small smile.

"Ah!" he answered, understanding immediately what she was trying to tell him.

"Elizabeth, I am going to go upstairs for a little while. Why don't you and Jack stay down here for a bit and talk before he walks you home?"

"All right," Elizabeth said tearfully, as she gave her friend a grateful smile.

Jack unfolded himself from her embrace and took her hand, leading her to the settee. They sat down together and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Elizabeth," he whispered quietly.

"Why? I am the one who is blubbering like a fool!"

"Because I never want to be the reason to make you cry!"

"You aren't, Jack! I am just so excited to see you, to feel you, to know you are here with me! My emotions are all simmering together in my body and I guess they are boiling over through my eyes." She attempted to smile at him.

"But, if hadn't have left you, Elizabeth, then you wouldn't have to be so excited to see me! Maybe this is the reason Mounties don't marry. It is just too hard on the wives! You cry when we leave, you cry when we come back. Maybe it is just better to not put a woman through all of that."

"Jack Thornton! Are you suggesting that Mounties get scared off by some tears?"

"Well, no…"

"Have you changed your mind about us?" Elizabeth asked, her voice shaking a little with emotion and fear.

"Of course not! Elizabeth, I love you!" he declared. He sat very still without looking at her for a minute before he said quietly, "I am just terrified that maybe you will discover I am not worth all of the heartache."

Elizabeth didn't know how to put what she was feeling into words. How could see ever tell him that the emotions she experienced because of the love they shared made her feel alive for the first time in her life? She had never felt so wanted, so desired, so completed, in her existence before she had known the exquisite pain of what it was to love him. How could she tell him that by missing him, she actually loved him more? How could she ever express that he fulfilled her enough to be sufficiently strong to survive when he was away from her? She felt like a bucket and he was the rain: He would fill her to the brim when he was beside her and that would give her a reservoir from which to draw when he was away. There just was not language adequate enough to convey how deeply intertwined her heart was with his.

" _This_ is what it is to make love!" she thought to herself. Sometimes things are better said through action than with words.

She said nothing to him; instead, she leaned over and placed a hand on his now smoothly-shaven cheek. She looked him deep in his eyes and watched as the fear in them morphed to pleasant surprise right before she placed her lips on his. Every emotion she had been carrying with her for the last 10 months flowed through her lips to his.

He pulled back after a few minutes. "Whoa!" was all he uttered.

"You're worth it, Constable!" was all she whispered.

He cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. He stood slightly and wiped his clammy hands down his pant legs in an attempt to rearrange them and make himself more comfortable.

"Elizabeth," he said, his voice cracking just a bit at the end of her name. "We need to talk about when we want to get married!"

"Soon!" she quickly answered.

"Well, how soon is 'soon'?"

Elizabeth was thinking that perhaps in an hour sounded good. But, she didn't know what he was thinking, so she proceeded cautiously. "I am not sure, Jack. Do you want a wedding, or just a simple ceremony with our friends, or…"

"You are the woman, Elizabeth. What do you want?"

"What I want is to go get Frank and bring him here even if he is in his nightclothes!" is what she thought. But, the words would not come out.

"Are you home for good?" she asked him, all of a sudden realizing that she hadn't even asked him that yet in all of the excitement of his coming home.

He nodded. "At least for awhile. There has been some talk that I might be needed in Athabasca for a bit. Many of the supply shipments for the men come out of there. It is the last big station before it gets really desolate. They lost a few guys out of there, so they are scrambling to find some reinforcements. My name came up, but I haven't heard anything more."

"I think my Uncle Wynn was there for awhile," Elizabeth answered.

"Probably," Jack confirmed. "Seems like everyone in the entire territory rotates through there eventually."

"So, going back to Hamilton for a wedding is probably not a possibility?" Elizabeth asked.

"I wish I could tell you for sure, Elizabeth, but I can't in good conscience. I'm sorry!" He felt terrible. Of course she would want a big wedding back home with all of her family and friends! It wasn't what he wanted at all; he would feel like he was on display like a freak at the circus. But, he loved her enough that if her heart was set on that, he would have given it to her if he could.

"Good!" Elizabeth answered stoutly.

"I'm sorry?" he asked her.

"Good!" she repeated. "I don't want to get married there and this is the perfect excuse!"

"Wait… You don't?"

"No! I would feel like we were on display, like freaks at the circus!" she declared. He smiled. "'Step right up, everyone, and look at the Thatcher heiress and her Mountie!'" she quipped, her voice high and shrill.

"Honestly, they already act like I have three heads because I wanted to come here and I actually like living here. That's all I need is for them to all think that I found a Mountie and brought him home like a stray puppy!" Her voice conveyed her disgust as she continued. "Let Viola have the dog and pony show; I just want to be your wife!"

"Thank God!" Jack exhaled, before he thought about it. He looked quickly over at Elizabeth, thinking he maybe stuck his foot in it again. Instead, she giggled and grabbed his arm.

"So, that's settled then!" she declared triumphantly. "Now all we need is to decide if we want a wedding here or just a simple ceremony."

"Well, wait, now, Elizabeth! What about your parents? I know you wrote that your mother and father finally came around to accept our engagement, but how will they feel if we don't get married there?"

"I told them, Jack, in no uncertain terms, that I love you, this is our marriage and our life together and that even though I love them very much, if they cannot respect my decision, then I will have to cut all ties with them. I think after Julie ran away, it scared them enough that they realized that they cannot control us with their money. All they asked is that we allow them to host a wedding reception there for us in the "soon after" we are wed."

"Wow!" Jack exclaimed. "I never thought that they would come around to the fact that we love each other and are getting married. Good job, sweetheart! Thank you!"

"So, that brings us back to do we want to have a wedding or just a ceremony?"

"Elizabeth, weddings are kind of a woman thing. I kind of feel like Lee: Just tell me when to show up, what you want me to wear and where I am supposed to stand and I am good!"

"Jack, please! You have to tell me what you want. Do we do this in front of the whole town, or do we do this with just our closest friends?"

"Truly, Elizabeth, I want you to have whatever makes you happy. I am just looking forward to what happens afterwards!" As soon as he said it, he turned bright red. He turned to her and saw that she was trying very hard to act shocked, but was instead holding back her laughter.

"I meant what happens after we get married," he said. "I mean the actual marriage part. Elizabeth!" he said, his voice sounding strangled with mortification.

She turned to him and whispered close to his ear, "Truth be told, Jack, I am more interested in what comes afterwards, too," as she placed her hand on his thigh and gave a small squeeze. He shivered with longing.

She ran her hand a little further up his thigh before he caught her hand with his. "Don't, Elizabeth!" he begged her, embarrassed about how his body was reacting and unsure of how she would respond if she knew or even if she would know what was happening to him.

He picked her hand up off his leg and put it on his chest. He then enclosed her in his arms and began to kiss her, trying to distract her. He had a sneaking suspicion that she knew exactly what she had been doing to him and was curious about how he would react both physically and emotionally. She was testing him, he was sure of it, to see what kind of control she had over him and he had over himself. She had never been so bold before, but two could play at that game, he thought to himself.

He put his hand on her back and moved it to the side. Something felt odd; out of place, but he couldn't identify it at first. He then ran his hand up and down her torso and the realization hit him like a ton of bricks that for the first time ever, he was feeling her intimately without her corset.

"Oh, no!" he said out loud, without thinking.

"What?" she asked him, looking up, confused.

"Nothing!" he replied quickly.

But, then he decided to give as good he got from her. He moved his hand just slightly to the front of her torso and when he moved his hand up, he was essentially cupping her breast in his hand. He stayed still for a few seconds, waiting to see how she would react, when she shifted herself so that her breast fell completely into his grip. His hand involuntarily closed around her as she gave a soft sigh and they both watched as her nipple budded tightly under her top.

He was exhausted from moths of being cold and lonely and his long ride home, not to mention all of the emotions of being home and seeing her again. Even more than before, her tears from earlier made complete sense to him as he felt the prickling of his own eyes. At this moment, like none ever before in his life, he felt he was home. All of his dreams, all of his desires, started like this and it felt like he had lived this moment with her already for a thousand years.

He leaned into her and whispered, "Elizabeth, I want you! So help me, God, I want all of you!"

Elizabeth gave a soft moan is response as she tipped her head to the side and his lips honed in directly on her neck. He worked his way down as her hands wound through his hair, past her collar bone and to the top of her blouse. He looked up at her, a silent question in his expression and she had merely arched her back for him and given him a small nod.

His fingers were shaking as he worked at the first button on her blouse; though he had not gotten frost bite up north, like some of the other men, he still felt his fingers were tight and stiff with the endless months of cold. The buttons were tiny, but with great determination, he opened the first one. He looked up at her again and she only watched him in response. So, he went for the next one and the next one and the next one, until her blouse was open to the top of her skirt. He had expected to find the thin muslin of her slip and chemise, but was overjoyed when all he saw instead was smooth, creamy white skin.

He reached his hand inside and shuddered as he almost lost himself. His experience with Rosie had been nothing like this; it had been fumbling, hurried and primal. This… This was perfection. This was what he had been missing all of his life. This is what he had almost given up.

He mumbled something against her neck and she asked him, "I'm sorry?"

He looked up and her and said, "This is what he meant!"

"Who meant what?"

"My father," he answered her. He looked up and saw mystified look on her face.

He sat up straighter for a second, leaning his head on the back of the settee, so he could see her better.

"Bill told me tonight that my father used to say that nothing was better than getting home to a good bath, a good meal and a good bed with a good woman in it. I know now what he meant."

"Oh!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"I don't ever want to ride out again, Elizabeth, without knowing that you are in my bed, waiting for me to come home to you."

"All right," Elizabeth told him.

"All right what?"

"All right, Jack. I don't ever want you to ride out again and not be in your bed when you get back, either. Let's do this. Let's get married as soon as possible!"

"You sure you don't want a fancy wedding?"

"I am sure, Jack. All I want is you. With me. Forever."


	6. Chapter 6

**Not much steam in this one…. More emotional bonding. Enjoy!**

On another note: Of course, while I strive to add historical elements to my stories, this is, in fact, a Fan Fiction, so I will take certain liberties in behaviors or conversations that may or may not have happened then because I can. Ironically, there is no "war" in the Northern Territories that I can find which involved RCMP in the early to mid-1910s. There were several coal mining uprisings but most of these were not in the North and either occurred earlier or later than the year Jack would have left, the most notable one around 1916 was in the Crowsnest Pass region on Alberta which is closer to the US Boarder than even Calgary, not up north. A regiment of Mounties was sent to Vladivistok, Russia in 1918-1919, but other than that, I cannot find anything that would allude to the necessity of Jack having to go up there except that during the war, many Mounties joined up to fight in Europe, so there was a shortage of available men left then on the Force. It was so bad that at one point, the Canadian government canceled all local Provincial policing contracts in Alberta, Saskatchewan and the territories, having the RCMP only handle federal issues and they issued a statement reminding them that their domestic service was just as valuable to Canada as if they were serving on the front lines in Europe. So, I embellished…

Also, I realize that I am stretching the morality line of how a teacher and a law enforcement officer would have intimately interacted then. However, while people then were much more reserved about sex and intimacy on the surface, there were still plenty of people frolicking in corners and the sex industry in North American West had been thriving for over half a century, so people were certainly not as reserved as they acted. The North American frontier was a world unto its own and what drove polite society in the East didn't necessarily carry over into the Wild West. So, I will take creative license at times.

I believe strongly that Bill would have given Jack the advice he gave him in Chapter 2. Bill stated the fact that he married Nora when she was either carrying or had just delivered a child that was not his. Bill also has stated several times that he does not like playing by the rules, so I can imagine that he would be one to buck the morality norms of the times.

Without further ado: chapter 6! I do hope that people will enjoy the story!** 

Chapter 6

Abigail came down awhile later to make sure that Jack and Elizabeth had shut off the lights and closed up behind them when they left, so she was quite surprised when she turned and found them both asleep on the settee. She was a little shocked initially when she noticed that Jack's hand was disappearing under the edge of her blouse, but then she smiled when she saw that his hand was in fact resting on her heart, his cheek laying on her breastbone above. Elizabeth had her hand cradled around his head, her hand resting on his cheek, her own head thrown back against the back of the settee.

The positioning of Jack's lower half in comparison to his upper body looked like he should be ridiculously uncomfortable, as his feet were still planted firmly on the floor, his knees together, but at his waist, he was turned over 90 degrees and almost doubled over in order to rest against his love. Abigail wondered how he could possibly be as incredibly relaxed as his slackened face revealed. But, then Abigail remembered that Jack had come from a bedroll in a freezing tent or a rudimentary cabin for the last 10 months, then had ridden on his horse and camped exposed to the elements for over two weeks to get home and knowing him, he had ridden hard, almost to the point of collapse, every day, to get home to Elizabeth as quickly as he could. Elizabeth had curled her legs up under her, her feet firmly braced on the armrest of the settee to give herself some extra backing to support his body weight.

Abigail thought that perhaps she should wake them and then thought better of it. They had spent his final night in Hope Valley before riding out so many months ago together in each other's arms in the church; it only seemed fitting that they should do the same on the night he returned home. So, she instead went upstairs and took an extra quilt out of the chest at the foot of her bed and took it down to spread over them before she banked the fire a final time as she was going to retire for the night. But, as she tried to tuck one corner behind Elizabeth's shoulder, her friend slowly opened her eyes and smiled when she realized who she was cradling.

"Hi," Abigail whispered quietly.

"Hi," Elizabeth answered back, as her eyes widened and her cheeks grew warm as she realized where Jack's hand was resting and that Abigail had most certainly seen it.

"I… We…," she stuttered, trying desperately to find the words to explain their current predicament as she tried to sit up a bit.

"Elizabeth," Abigail whispered, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, "it's fine! No need to explain. Let him sleep. He has to be so incredibly tired! I am sure he is having the best sleep he has had in months," she continued, nodding her head towards him, "if not his entire life, despite how ungodly uncomfortable that looks!"

"Abigail, I don't think I can ever spend another night away from him," Elizabeth whispered. "I love him so!"

"Deal with that tomorrow, Elizabeth. Right now, just enjoy holding him in your arms. I will be awaking before Clara and Cody; don't worry. I will give you plenty of time to get yourselves back together."

"Thank you, Abigail. He just fell asleep like this," Elizabeth said as she tenderly swept the hair off his forehead and smiled gently, her love and pride shining through, "and I hadn't the heart to wake him."

"I agree, Elizabeth. There is no harm in letting him sleep. Lord knows he must be running at a major deficit. If I know that man, he rode himself until either he or that horse of his would collapse, hurrying to get home to you!"

Several hours later, the nightmare started. He was hunkered down behind a snowbank, exchanging fire with several of outlaws, with another Mountie beside him. It was someone he didn't really know; he was a young kid, straight out of the academy, scared to death, one of the many young replacements for the men who were serving overseas, which he was now responsible to train until he was competent to take his own posting. It seemed like they had been at it for hours. He had lost feeling to his feet and hands, nose and ears, despite being well-bundled for the cold. But, no matter how many layers one wears, not moving when the mercury dips well below -20 degrees for several hours is a recipe for disaster and he tried to remember to wiggle his toes and fingers as much as possible. Thankfully, at least on that day, the wind was not howling.

Jack wasn't sure how he had gotten cut off from the rest of his company with this particular rookie: Their patrol had been a quiet one for once, the fur thieves and gun runners all knew that the RCMPs were stretched thin with the war and were taking full advantage, flooding back in at a rate the Force could scarcely stem. All he knew was that the kid had stopped to pick up a dropped glove and the bullets had started flying. The others had managed to run for the cover of an abandoned trapper's cabin, but Jack and this one kid didn't make it and had no other viable options than the small pile of snow. Jack remembered praying vehemently that there was a rock under it or that it was thick enough to absorb the lead projectiles being hurled at them, and thankfully, thus far, it had held.

"Sargent Thornton?" he remembered the kid asking him. He twitched slightly in his sleep, disturbed that he could even recall the recruit's name.

"Yeah?" Jack asked, turning to him while reloading for what felt like the millionth time. He hadn't meant to sound disinterested, but the numbness in his fingers made it very difficult to get the bullet into his weapon and he was concentrating on not dropping it. The four men that made up their company had been well-supplied when starting out on patrol that morning, but after hours of volleying back and forth, he was getting nervous that they might run out of munitions before their adversaries.

"I'm so cold! I can't feel my feet!" the kid had said.

"I know. Just hang on. We are running low on munitions; they must be, too. We just have to hold out for a bit longer, but _you have to stay down_! Do you understand me? _Stay down_!"

"All right," the kid had said.

It wasn't more than 20 minutes later when Jack noticed with his trained ear that the cover of bullets seemed to be slowing a bit. "Good," he thought. "They are running low. Not much longer."

Suddenly, he looked to his side. The kid was moving his legs frantically. "I can't feel them!" he was screaming, panicking. "I can't! I can't! I have to stand up and move before I lose them! I can't lose my feet! I can't!"

" _Constable, stay down_!" Jack had roared the order, but the kid didn't listen. He stood straight up and fell almost as fast, hit right between the eyes.

Jack, in his dream, recalled thinking three things almost simultaneously: That it was a damn shame, now he was going to have to hold them off on his own, because he was not dying today and that at least he could take the kid's ammo. Then, he thought of nothing, as he focused on staying alive. He would be damned if died before he got home to Elizabeth.

He was moving a bit in his sleep, crying out something about staying down, when Elizabeth opened her eyes. "Jack!" she said, gently shaking him. "Jack! Wake up! You are home and you are safe! Please, just wake up!"

He opened his eyes and took in his surroundings. His was in Abigail's dark sitting room, his hand on Elizabeth's chest, his breath coming fast. He couldn't feel his legs; the position he had fallen asleep in had cut off his circulation. He shifted quickly and sat up. "I'm sorry, Elizabeth," he said as he realized where he had put his hand when falling to sleep and that he had awoken her with his bad dream.

"It's fine, Jack! Are you doing all right?"

"I need to stand up: My feet fell asleep," he said, trying to hide the panic in his voice.

"That's all right, Jack!" Elizabeth said, wondering why he would sound so disturbed about a little thing like his feet falling asleep.

"Oh, damn it!" Jack cried out as the blood went rushing back into his extremities and the pain became acute.

"What, Jack?" Elizabeth was concerned, because she had never heard him swear before.

"I am so sorry, Elizabeth. This just hurts; really badly!"

"Come here, Jack. Let me rub them!"

"No, it's all right. It will pass soon."

"Jack, come here!" she told him sternly in her best teacher voice.

It worked and he came over to the settee to sit back down. He lifted his legs into her lap as she massaged his feet and upward. He groaned with both pain and pleasure. To feel her so tenderly caressing him was heaven and a far sight better than when his fellow Mounties had finally gotten him back to the makeshift barracks and rubbed his feet, legs and hands down with snow for what felt like hours. The pain was unbearable as he had thrashed his head back and forth, knowing that it had to happen and tried not to fight them, until someone mercifully had eventually shoved some medicinal whiskey down his throat. He was so out of sorts that it didn't dawn on him until much later the next day that he was responsible for retrieving and sending back the new graduate's body, something for which he still did not forgive himself, because it had instead fallen to the other new recruits in his command after they had gotten him stabilized.

He would never admit it to anyone, but even though he didn't have frost bite from the whole ordeal, he knew it was an extremely close call and worried that he might have some residual nerve damage, as every time he got cold or his feet feel asleep, the pain in his extremities was excruciating. He never wanted his feet, especially, to be cold again and for the millionth time thanked God that even though his ma had cooked like the devil, she could knit like a saint and his feet had been saved by his layers of her thick, tight socks in his boots and gloves under his leather official issue pair. She had learned from his father how important it was, but Jack had been the true beneficiary.

"Jack?" Elizabeth asked after he had stopped involuntarily grunting softly with pain and had instead started to moan with appreciation.

"Yes?" he asked her.

"Did you have a bad dream?"

"Oh! Well, I'm fine now! It was just because my feet fell asleep. Don't worry."

"Jack, I am here to listen if you need to talk about it."

"About what?"

"About what it was like up there."

"Elizabeth, I am fine. I was just doing my job! It wasn't pleasant, but I am home now. I just want to focus on moving forward."

She studied him for a long while; he could feel her scrutiny, like she was seeing through to his soul and it unnerved him. "It wasn't really that bad!" he told himself and tried to smile, but she only squinted her eyes and tilted her head, like she could tell what he had just thought.

He suddenly sat up and grabbed her face in his hands and kissed her long and deeply. He wanted to refocus her attention on to something else and he needed to feel for himself once more that she was really there in his arms.

"Mmmmm….," Elizabeth said, as they slowly pulled apart. "Good morning, Constable!"

"Good morning!" he said with a grin. "This is how I want to wake up every day for the rest of my life," he whispered to her, as he wrapped his hand around the base on her head, his thumbing massaging her cheek, as he rested his forehead on hers.

"Me, too," she told him, as she quickly moved to peck his lips. "Jack, I wasn't kidding last night. I want to get married as soon as possible."

He thought back to his nightmare and how she had calmed the storm within him in mere seconds and realized that he really couldn't be another night without her. "How about today?"

"Today?" she asked, surprised.

"Why not?" he asked her.

"Well, I don't have a dress, we don't have a cake, we don't even know if Frank is free today!"

"Elizabeth, those things don't matter to me! If they matter to you, then we will wait, but if they don't and you are only doing it because you think we have to, then I say forget it! Let's just do it!"

"Jack, I have nothing to wear!"

"Elizabeth, you look lovely in whatever you put on! Most of the women here don't wear wedding dresses, anyway; they just wear their Sunday best. You have so many beautiful dresses. How about the one you wore on our first date?"

Elizabeth laughed, her Hamilton upbringing rearing its rare head. "That old thing? Jack, that is over four years old!"

His pride was bruised. "Elizabeth, I hope you realize that you may very well have to wear four-year-old dresses as long as they are still whole and unsullied on my salary. I can't afford to buy you a whole new wardrobe every season or even every year."

She nodded. "I know, Jack. I wouldn't want you to. But, for my wedding, I thought that I should have something a bit more special than an old dress."

He nodded and sighed. "If that's what you want, all right. How long does it take to make a new dress?"

"I don't know. If Dottie and Rosemary aren't too busy, maybe a week?"

"A week?" he asked, his disappointment rising. A week more of nights without her beside him seemed to stretch like an eternity.

"Maybe a little more," she said.

"All right," he said resolutely. She was already sacrificing a big wedding, her family and friends from home, a big house, an unlimited clothing fund, traveling, the opera, the servants, the… He felt like it was his turn to hyperventilate when he counted up all she was giving up for him. "A week it is."

Elizabeth studied him for a minute. Then she thought about what she really wanted. Did she need a fancy dress? A cake? What was it that she really wanted? When she thought about what she wanted to remember in her old age about her wedding day, would it be the minute details or would it be the day she married the love of her life? His job was precarious, even on the best day. His father hadn't died from a gunshot; he had merely fallen off his horse when it had taken a missed step and hit his head on a rock. He had survived much worse and was just out on a regular patrol; he had just been making his rounds. Was a dress and a cake worth the fact that in a week, Jack could potentially succumb a million different ways? Was a dress worth those lost hours, minutes, seconds that she could recall and enjoy for the rest of her life? One less week of memories, joy, and physical intimacy?

"Jack?" she said shyly.

"What is it?"

"Never mind."

"What do you mean, sweetheart?"

"Let's get married today!"

He looked shocked. "Really?" His heart sped up. He couldn't believe his destiny.

"Yes! I am sure of it. All that matters is that we are wed. Everything else won't mean a thing in the grater scope."

His smile could have lit up the world. "I love you!" he declared, pulling her in for a kiss.

"Not nearly as much as I love you!" she countered.

Abigail came down the stairs and knocked before she hit the last one and would turn to see them. What she saw was the two lovers staring at each other, absolute joy radiating from them both.

"Good morning!" she said.

"Good morning, Abigail!" Elizabeth sang.

"You two sure seem happy!" Abigail mentioned as she started to pump water into the large tea kettle.

"It's our wedding day!" Elizabeth happily declared.

"What?"

"We are getting married today! We don't want to wait!"

"But, Elizabeth, what about a dress, a cake, a reception?"

"We don't care about that, Abigail. We have been apart long enough; we don't want to waste another day!"

"Well, all right, then! It is definitely up to you! I will make sure that you have a cake, at least!"

"Oh, thank you!" Elizabeth gushed just a knock sounded at the back door.

"Whoever could that be at this time of morning?" Abigail muttered, as she went to open it.

"Rosemary!" she decreed.

"Good morning! I heard that Jack was back! I went by the jail and he wasn't there, but Bill told me to try here."

"I see," Abigail said, trying to curb her laughter.

"Hello, you!" Rosemary cried, running to Jack's arms. He opened his just in time before she would have run into him. Even though she knew Rosemary was happily married to Lee, it was as Elizabeth feared as she watched the two embracing with a new eye; it felt awkward. Wrong! She was shocked by the feeling of possession that swept over her and she fought her urge to stake her claim on Jack by reaching for him.

"Hi, Rosie," he said with all the feeling of a loving older brother.

"How are you?" she asked him, holding him out at arm's length and scrutinizing him.

"I'm all right," he told her.

"Good to be home?"

"You have no idea!"

"How bad was it there?" she asked.

"Not so bad…" he responded.

"As bad as…?"

"No! But for me? Yeah… in some ways." They seemed to communicate in a way that no one else could; deeply, truthfully, both understanding the risks involved with such a career, having lived and shared it their entire childhoods.

"Oh, Jack! I am so sorry! At least you are home now! We are all going to take care of you!"

"I'm okay, Rosie. I'm mostly just tired."

"Well, of course you are, Jack! You just sit right down there and I will get you breakfast!" Rosemary declared, pulling on an apron. Abigail and Elizabeth stood and stared at her in disbelief; Abigail that she would walk in and take over her kitchen, Elizabeth that she would just walk in and take over her man.

"Rosemary," Elizabeth said gently, "it is all right. I was just preparing to get Jack his breakfast."

"You?" Rosemary said, her eyes wide open in shock. "Elizabeth, I know you have been working tirelessly on your cooking, but Jack has been gone for ten months! He needs a really substantial breakfast! I just don't know if you are up to the challenge yet!"

"I assure you, Rosemary, that I am and as his wife, I am prepared to do it every morning for the rest of his life!"

Jack watched the volley between the two women, dread filling his head. He had worried that Elizabeth may take Rosemary's tendencies to take over differently now that she knew their history. It was tense; almost as bad as when Rosemary had first arrived. A certain meal of chicken fried steak came to mind and he wondered if how he was going to manage two large breakfasts when he felt slightly sick to his stomach.

"Why, Elizabeth, you aren't his wife yet!" Rosemary declared.

"That's something we intend to remedy by the end of the day, Rosemary," Elizabeth countered hotly.

"What?" Rosemary cried. "You can't get married today! There is no way we can plan a wedding in a few hours!"

"Rosie," Jack warned, trying to keep her from getting involved. "Elizabeth and I decided that we don't want a wedding, per se. Just a small ceremony. As quickly as possible; we have waited long enough!"

"Nonsense!" Rosemary decreed as she took her apron off and handed it to Elizabeth.

"Where are you going, Rosemary?" Abigail asked.

"Well, to plan their wedding, of course!" she called out over her shoulder as she walked out the door, leaving a behind her very stunned Jack, Elizabeth and Abigail.


	7. Chapter 7

**Not steamy, but definitely descriptive!-Enjoy**

Chapter 7

After breakfast, Jack reluctantly separated from Elizabeth and returned to the jail. He knew he needed to do his rounds, but he honestly was not feeling like it that day. He was exhausted, he was spent and more than anything, he was in love and that seemed to be the only thing which he really cared about at the moment.

Thankfully, it was a Thursday, so Elizabeth only had to work through two days of school for the rest of the week. She went home after parting from Jack at the jail, each step getting harder and harder as she got further away from him. She was fought herself from turning around and running straight back into his arms. She loved the children, but Jack was her soul mate and the pull to him was greater than any other she had every known.

Once home, she changed her clothing and brushed and fixed her hair. As she was gathering her things, there was a knock at her door. Her heart soared, thinking that perhaps Jack had come to surprise her on his way out of town to do his rounds, but she was sorely disappointed when she instead found Florence on the other side.

"Good morning, Florence," she said, pulling deeply on her finishing school background to appear friendly and pleasant in the face of dejection.

"Good morning, Miss Thatcher!" Florence answered. It didn't matter how many times Elizabeth had given her permission to call her by her first name; Florence always addressed her as Miss Thatcher

Elizabeth was terrified that somehow Florence had discovered that she and Jack had spent the night together at Abigail's home and that there had been some inappropriate groping going on. Her tone indicated all business, so Elizabeth braced herself for what she was sure would be at the very least a reprimand for her debauchery, for her status and stature within the community would require her to be more upstanding. But, suddenly, Elizabeth didn't really care what people thought. She loved Jack and she wanted him, and she would be more than willing to confront any resident of Hope Valley who would call into question her integrity, asking them if they had waited 4 excruciating years to be physically intimate with the one they loved?

"I ran into Mrs. Coulter this morning and she informed me that you and Constable Thornton are planning on wedding today?"

'Yes, that is correct," Elizabeth answered her. "We are going to see if the pastor is available later, after school."

"Well, Miss Thatcher, as I told Mrs. Coulter, there is no way you can possibly plan a wedding and teach today! And, what about tomorrow?" she continued, dropping her voice to almost a whisper. "Surely, you and Constable Thornton would like to spend some…time… together!"

"I assure you it is fine, Florence! Constable Thornton and I are quite prepared to wed tonight and do our jobs tomorrow!"

"Well, I told Mrs. Coulter that it would be a crying shame, what with Constable Thornton just arriving home after a long absence. So, I volunteered to teach the children today and tomorrow and Mrs. Coulter convinced Mr. Avery to take Constable Thornton's rounds for the next few days. Every couple needs a little… alone time… when they are first wed!"

"Thank you, Florence!" Elizabeth cried. "What a wonderful gift!"

Florence, in her typical uptight fashion, did not react to Elizabeth's enthusiasm. "Well, it is the least we can do for you!" she stated.

Elizabeth shut the door and leaned against it. She was thrilled to have the day to prepare herself for her upcoming nuptials. She was just beginning to plan her day when there was a knock on her door. For the second time that morning, she excitedly thought it was Jack, but when she opened it, it was Rosemary.

"Good morning, again, Elizabeth!" she sang out, waltzing into the room.

"Uhhh… Hello, Rosemary. What can I do for you?"

"Oh, Elizabeth, I have been running around, trying to organize your wedding and I just have to say: There is no way that this is going to happen today!"

"Why is that, Rosemary?"

"Well, I have arranged for the school to be covered and for Jack's rounds. Abigail said that she was already planning a cake, but when I went to the church to ask about if we could get in there and decorate before the event and at what time we should invite everyone, I found that Pastor Hogan is out for the day! He is administering to old Mrs. Pedersen. She is doing very poorly, the poor dear, and apparently," Rosemary paused for dramatic affect and to show her annoyance, "she had requested him to come there for absolution before she passes. My goodness, couldn't she just hold out for another day or two?"

"Rosemary," Elizabeth said, "it is fine! Jack and I don't need a big wedding! We will just ask Pastor Hogan to marry us when he gets back!"

"But, that's the thing, Elizabeth. The Pedersen farm is halfway between here and Buxton. Pastor Hogan won't be back until late tonight!"

"Oh!" Elizabeth said, her disappointment palatable. "That's very disappointing!"

"I know! However, in other news, I have come up to the solution for your dress!" Rosemary paused again, baiting Elizabeth for a reaction.

"Oh, really! What's that?" Elizabeth asked, biting.

"Why, you can borrow my dress, of course! Now, I think it will still fit you, even though you are quite a bit larger than me. I think if we just cinch up your corset a bit tighter and you breathe shallowly, it should work until Jack can get it off of you! You just won't be able to eat anything!"

Elizabeth was so stunned, she didn't even know how to respond. Was Rosemary insinuating that she was fat? After a few minutes, she replied, "Thank you?"

"Now, then. For the wedding night. Do you have anything suitable, Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth only gaped at her.

"Now, Elizabeth, it is a legitimate question. Like I told Dottie and Florence when I first started my column, women need to be able to speak more freely about things like love and physical intimacies! Do you have anything that will tickle Jack's fancy?"

"I was just going to wear my nightgown, Rosemary. I figured that would suffice…," Elizabeth said, her cheeks blazing.

"Oh, no, no, no! That will never do! I have a nice negligee that my friend Gladys sent to me as a wedding gift. It is just the ugliest color!" Rosemary declared. Then she looked at Elizabeth. "I mean for me! It is the ugliest color on me. It is a shade of purple that would absolutely wash me out! I have no idea what she was thinking, but then again, Gladys isn't known for her good taste, poor dear. But, it will look great on you! Hold on! Let me just run home and get it."

Rosemary ran out the door so quickly that the whole house shook as she shut it. True to her word, she was back in less than two minutes, negligee in hand, and accurately described, it was a dark purple color with lace that would have washed out her fair complexion. But, Elizabeth was still mortified when Rosemary handed it to her.

"There, now! Hold it up, Elizabeth! That's right! Oh, it will look simply divine!" Rosemary confirmed. "Oh, that Jack will just want to eat you up with a spoon!"

Elizabeth flushed ever deeper red.

"Elizabeth, do you have any question about the… you know… wedding night? I wouldn't talk about it with just anyone, but as we are such good friends and I know you both so well and I am newly married myself, I thought I may be able to offer some reassurance."

"You do know us both well," Elizabeth answered wryly, without thinking.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Rosemary asked her, looking hard at her.

When Elizabeth didn't answer right away, Rosemary knew. "What did he tell you?" she asked.

"Just that you were young and it was fast and unplanned and that it happened on the night you got engaged," Elizabeth responded.

"Fast was certainly the best way to describe it!" Rosemary said with a laugh. "It was so fast that it was finished before it started."

"How do you mean?" Elizabeth asked.

"Well, let's just say… I sure hope his accuracy and his endurance have increased with age!" she laughed.

"Rosemary!" Elizabeth cried, so embarrassed, she felt like she wanted to melt into the floor.

"Oh, Elizabeth, relax! We were both young and inexperienced. Neither of us knew what we were doing. In fact, he never really made it… there…, so I don't even count it! It never is good the first time! Just be grateful that he hopefully has learned a lot since then."

Elizabeth said nothing. She would give Rosemary no ammunition.

"Are there any questions you have?" Rosemary asked. Elizabeth just shook her head no.

"Well, in that case, I am off to town. Do you need anything?"

"No, thank you, Rosemary!" Elizabeth said, still in shock over the conversation they just had.

"All right, then, dear! I am off!"

Later that afternoon, Rosemary struck again, this time pouncing on Jack as he rode up to the jail, so exhausted he wanted to fall of his horse and sleep in the street. By the time Bill agreed to take over his rounds, Jack was already gone.

"Hello, Jack!" Rosemary cried out from across the street, waving her arm at him.

His heart sank. Rosemary, as much as he loved her, took more energy to deal with than he had right then. Like he had told her on the stairs so many years ago now, she could distract a whole army. But, he still raised his hand in response. "Hey, Rosie!"

"Jack, I am not sure if Elizabeth has told you yet or not…"

"Rosie, I just got back from patrol. I haven't seen her since this morning!"

"Oh, well, in that case…," Rosemary said, following Jack into the jail. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the wedding has been postponed: Pastor Hogan is out at the Pederson ranch."

"Oh, no!"

"Oh, yes! But, Jack, truthfully, you look horrible! It is probably just as well that you get a good night's sleep before the wedding."

"Why is that?" he asked.

"I am just worried that you won't be able to… you know…," she told him.

"Oh, Rosie, please tell me that you didn't tell that to Elizabeth!"

"Not that… exactly…," she responded, looking guilty.

"What did you tell her, Rosie?"

"Why, Jack? What have you told her? She told me you told her."

"I did," he confirmed.

"Oh, well, then, no harm done! All I told her is that I hope your accuracy and endurance had gotten better with age and experience and that because of what happened back then, I didn't even really think it counted!"

"All you told her?" he exploded. "Rosie! Oh my Lord! Do you hate me or something? Now she is going to think that I am terrible, as well as fast! She won't want me to touch her! How could you?"

"Oh, Jack, calm down! I told her it was a long time ago and that it is always awful the first go around!"

"Rosie…," Jack took a deep breath and counted to ten.

"It is, Jack!" she cried in self-defense.

"So, was it horrible the first time with Lee?" he asked her back, smirking. There were advantages to knowing her his whole life: He always could talk to her like she was one of the guys. She practically had been, since all of the other Mounties' kids around seemed to be male; that is until they all noticed she had very curvedly developed into a girl.

"Oh, no! That was great! It is amazing what being in love can do! Well, that and a little living happening between then and now," she responded cryptically.

"Seriously, Rosie. Does Lee know?"

"Of course Lee knows! I tell him everything! He thought it was funny when I told him what happened! He told me that he could relate!"

"Congratulations, Rosie! You have officially completely mortified me not only to my fiancé, but also my best friend. I will never be able to look him in the eye again!"

"Jack, don't be so dramatic! Lee's a man. He understands!" Rosemary responded, waving off his concern with her hand. "Anyway, I am off now to talk to Dottie about how we are going to decorate the church!"

"Rosie…," Jack told her, "we really don't care about that stuff!"

"You may not, Jack, but after all that the two of you have put this town through, all of the back and forth, the leaving and coming home," she told him, glossing over the fact that a lot of what had gone on was directly related to the drama she had ushered in when arriving, "that this town deserves to celebrate your wedding as much as you two do!"

Jack just laughed. Rosemary was right; the town had been watching their love grow for the past four years with an incredibly vested interest. He had heard that, because of their argument and separation on their way back from Hamilton, there had even been a bet at the saloon about whether or not they would end their courtship.

"However," Rosemary said with a wink, "based on what I gave Elizabeth today, I think you two will have the most fun! You can thank me later, Jack!" She turned on her heel, walking out the door, leaving him to imagine all kinds of interesting things.


	8. Chapter 8

***Okay…. A little more steam! Well, a lot more steam… Enjoy!***

Chapter 8

Jack was completely relaxed. In fact, he couldn't remember a time when he had been as content as he was right in that moment. He had come to Elizabeth's house after his talk with Rosemary, feeling vulnerable and nervous that the conversation between the two women had left Elizabeth doubting their relationship.

But, when he had knocked on her door, palms sweaty, his heart beating a million times per minute, she had opened it for him and her smile was as bright as the sun. She drew him inside and closed the door, shoving his back up against it, kissing him hard. She was searching, seeking, longing and he could feel it with every fiber of his being. This was not the kiss of a woman who was afraid that she would be saddled with a terrible lover; it was instead an inviting one, making Jack think that she was eager to learn together and he was more than up to the challenge.

His body reacted immediately and fiercely, and he was terrified he was going to embarrass himself further while letting her fuse tightly and move against him. In fact, he thought ruefully to himself, that as much as he liked to think he had become more disciplined and restrained with his age and training, if the way he was feeling right now was any indication, he wasn't going to fare any better with Elizabeth than he had with Rosemary and the thought petrified him. He finally pushed her back off of him slightly and gave a bashful laugh.

"Elizabeth, you take my breath away!" he had told her. "I want to sit down!" he added weakly.

"Oh! Certainly!" Elizabeth said, walking over to the settee. He joined her and she asked him if he was ready for supper.

"I could eat, but more than anything, I just want to sit here with you!" he told her, still marveling about how two weeks ago, he had been surrounded by snow and cold, and now, he was with her in the flesh, in her warm house. He kept wanting to pinch himself to make sure that he hadn't dreamt it all.

They sat together for a few minutes, each lost in their own thoughts, when Jack put his head on Elizabeth's shoulder. She could feel as his head got heavier and his breathing slowed down, and she whispered, "Jack?"

"Hmmm?" he answered her groggily.

"Jack, darling, why don't you put your head in my lap," she asked him.

"Thanks, Elizabeth," he mumbled and in his half-awake condition, he twisted on the settee and hung his feet over the arm of it as he put his head on the pillow she had put in her lap.

Elizabeth watched him, his eyes closed, his breathing even. She gently swept her hand through his hair and he turned into her, his forehead pressing into her breast. He settled back down and when she looked at him, she could have sworn that there was a small smile playing on his lips.

Jack was vaguely aware that he had turned his head into something warm and soft that smelled divine. When he realized he had snuggled into her breast, he was almost giddy with pleasure and thought to himself that once they were married, he wanted to fall asleep on the settee like this every night. In a semi-dream state, he saw a fire flickering before them, Elizabeth reading softly from a book, and all was right in his world.

He wasn't sure how long he slept. But when he awoke, he opened his eyes to find her gazing adoringly down at him. "How did I get so damned lucky?" he thought to himself. "She is the most beautiful thing that I have ever laid eyes on and she is cradling my head in her lap."

He smiled at her as he said, "Whatcha looking at, beautiful?"

"You, Jack!"

"Why?"

"Because I love you!"

"I love you, too!"

"Are you comfortable, Jack?"

He made a point to push his head even closer to her bosom and snuggling down. "Absolutely!" he confirmed, smiling. "I think this is the best seat in the house!"

"Are you hungry enough, Jack, that you are ready for me to make some supper for us?"

He stifled a yawn. "That could be good. I am too tired to eat, honestly, but I know I need to in order to keep my strength up for…," he blushed.

"For what, Jack?" Elizabeth countered, her eyes twinkling at him.

"Physical activities," he replied with a wink.

"Darling, if you want to go upstairs and lie down on my bed while I cook dinner, I could come and wake you when it is finished."

"Elizabeth," he said, a frown on his face. "That isn't appropriate!"

"Jack, how is it inappropriate? I will be down here cooking! I just figured you might sleep better on a bed where you can stretch out than all curled up on the settee."

Jack thought about it. He was so exhausted. He hadn't slept on a real bed, if the cot at the jail could be called that, in over ten months. The thought of a feather mattress and a light, downy quilt called to him. Eventually, his longing grew too big and he nodded. "All right, Elizabeth, as long as you are all right with this."

"Why wouldn't I be, Jack?"

"It is just that it is your personal space…" he began to explain.

"Well, hopefully by tomorrow night, it will be _our_ personal space." She smiled at him and his heart jumped.

"Lead the way!" he said, not wanting to be too forward about invading her home.

As she walked up the stairs, he couldn't keep his eyes off of her rear end as her hips swung tantalizingly in front of him. By the time they had reached the top landing, he grabbed onto them and then ran his hands forward and then across her lower abdomen. She smiled at him from over her shoulder and said, "Come on, Constable! Let's get you settled in bed."

Other than when he had helped her move in, and soon after, when she asked him to kill a spider behind her bed, he had not been in her room. When he entered, he was overtaken by a wave of desire… for the beckoning mattress, made up so prettily with her white quilts and flowery pillows. It was the most feminine bedroom he had been in his life. He felt like he was spying on her, seeing for the first time an intimate part of what made her, her. The room even smelled like her, so familiar a scent to him by now and one he could identify as uniquely hers, yet he couldn't pinpoint any particular fragrance. It was slightly floral, but mostly just clean and fresh were the only ways he could think to use to describe it. But, whatever it was, it was now what he affiliated with home.

She moved some decorative pillows and pulled back the bedding. Jack began to make his way to the side, preparing to climb in, when Elizabeth said, "Don't you want to strip down?"

"I beg your pardon?" his words tumbled out to her.

"I mean, Jack, don't you want to remove your clothing so you will be more comfortable?"

"Uh, I guess?" he answered, his voice rising in pitch with each word. Was she serious? Did she expect him to strip down to his gonch right in front of her? His cheeks reddened. Well, if that's what she suggested, who was he to deny her?

He stuck his hands in the waist band of his trousers and began to pull them down. He stood on one foot and pulled them over the other one, congratulating himself on not falling down when all of the blood was rushing away from his head. Then, he did the same thing on the other side and stood upright to fold them and place them on Elizabeth's chair. Neatness counted, after all!

He looked up and upon seeing her shocked expression, panicked.

"Oh! You meant after you leave! I'm sorry! I guess I have spent too much time around men without the civilizing presence of women. Pardon me, Elizabeth!"

She looked at him, his shirt tails hanging below his waist, his socks still on his feet. "Oh, Jack! You are too funny!" she told him. "It's fine! I will just leave you to it, then!" she sang out and she left her room. But, when she got to the top of the stairs, she had to stop and take several breaths to calm the storm inside of her. She desperately wanted to go back in that room and unbutton his shirt and then take off his underclothing, piece by piece! Instead, she shook her head and walked down the stairs into her kitchen.

She cooked a simple vegetable soup, making several mistakes, taking her back to her first few days in Abigail's kitchen; stupid blunders that she considered as being a long behind her, but her thoughts were too focused on Jack and imagining what would have happened if she hadn't had left when she did. When everything was finished, she walked back up the stairs and paused just outside her door.

In the faint moonlight, she could see him, sprawled out across the whole of her bed, snoring softly. For the first time, it dawned on her that marrying him would mean that they would share a bed for more than just making love and that if that is how he slept, she wasn't sure there would be room enough for her on the mattress with him. "Unless I am under him," she thought with a shiver of anticipation running through her.

She stood and watched him for a long while before she boldly moved to the side of the bed and sat down. She reached across him and kissed him, full and hard. He began to moan as he responded, his arms wrapping around her. "Are you a dream?" he whispered, his voice thick with desire and sleep.

"No, Jack. I am here. You are here."

"I want you here!" he opened the bedding and scooted over.

She sat and pondered, with her pinky finger in her mouth, wondering if it was all right. "Surely there is no harm in joining him if I am fully clothed!" she tried to convince herself.

"Please?" he whispered so sweetly that it was her ultimate undoing.

"All right, Jack. Just for a little while. Dinner is on the stove."

He lay on his back, his arm pulling her into his side, her head on his chest. He began to pet her soft tresses, transported back to his many dreams in the Northern Territories and realized that they had paled in comparison to what the reality would end up being, and that was with her fully clothed. He groaned.

"What is it, Jack?" she asked, looking up at him. "Did I hurt you?"

"No, sweetheart. I am just thinking that this is better than Heaven. I never want to leave! Can we just spend the rest of our lives in bed, like this, together?"

"It's tempting, Jack!" she replied, snuggling all the closer to him. If she moved any more, she would be on top of him, not beside, he realized and then he made up his mind that he would make that happen before the night was through. If he couldn't have all of her, he wanted the next best thing.

They lay in silence, each wondering how far the other would be willing to venture, both praying it was all the way, but neither of them wanted to pressure the other.

Out of the blue, just as he felt he was beginning to drift again, she gathered her courage and told him, "Jack, Rosemary told me that the first time is usually horrible. Is she right?" She couldn't imagine how anything that she wanted so much could be bad.

"Honestly? I don't know, Elizabeth. I don't know what you will think. But, I can promise you that I will be slow and gentle. We don't need to rush anything. In fact, we can even wait awhile to make sure you are comfortable."

"You are too sweet, Jack Thornton!" she declared. "But, it will be okay. I know you love me and will take care of me."

She felt him nod against her head. "That's right, sweetheart. My goal is to make it enjoyable for you, too."

She seemed satisfied with that answer and he was glad. He had already promised himself that her comfort was the most relevant thing in his mind.

They lapsed back into silence for awhile until she spoke up again. "Jack?"

"Yes?"

"Are you ready for children?" Here, in the dark, where she couldn't really see him, all of her nagging concerns were easier to vocalize.

That woke him up. It was a question that he had asked himself for months.

"Sweetheart, that is a hard question for me to answer."

"Why?"

"I love children! You know that. But, I am having a hard time reconciling the fact that I had made up my mind not to marry when I joined the Force and here I am now. It wasn't so much that I didn't want to find love and settled down with someone; it was instead that I knew that such a union would bring children into the world. Children who I didn't want to abandon if something happened to me in the line of duty. Of course, I didn't want to leave my wife, either, but I don't know how that feels. I do know, though, first hand that it is awful for the children to lose their father. I never want to inflict that pain on anyone, let alone a vulnerable child."

"Abigail told me that other night that there are… ways… men know of to prevent children. Do you know what those are?" she asked him shyly.

"I do," he affirmed.

"How?" she asked in surprise. She wondered if it was something that men shared with each other, generation to generation, that they somehow managed to keep from women, like some sort of pact in a secret brotherhood.

He chuckled softly. "You learn all kinds of things at the academy."

"What are they?"

"Well, with one way, I wouldn't be able to feel you like I want to," he answered vaguely, making her curious about what exactly he meant, but she was too timid to ask. "The other way…," he cleared his throat. "The other way won't make it as… enjoyable… for me. Why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering if you felt ready for children now," she answered.

"I have never wanted anything more in this world than to create a family with you, Elizabeth. Whenever and how many come to us is in God's hands as far as I am concerned."

"You don't want too many, do you?" she asked, her voice sounding a bit nervous.

"No more than five," he affirmed.

"Five!" she squeaked.

"Maybe six if it comes to that."

"Jack, that's almost a whole baseball team!"

"Even better!" he joked. "We could coach them!"

He got serious again when he said, "Elizabeth, I thought long and hard about asking you to marry me, not because I didn't love you, but because I didn't want to be selfish and inflict hardship on you. I want you for my wife and the mother of my children more than anything else I have ever wanted in my whole life combined! But, I had to make sure that I wasn't only thinking about my desires."

"I love you, Jack, and want to be your wife, whether it be for a day or for fifty years!"

"I know, Elizabeth, but I also saw what my passing did to my ma and there were only two of us. You are a competent woman and I know that if anything happened to me, you would be very capable of raising our family on your own. But, I had to decide if that would be fair to do to you and them."

"So, I guess you decided, then?"

"I did. I decided that I would live every day of my life telling you all how much I love you and how grateful I am to have you. That way, if anything ever happens, hopefully, while you will be lonely, you will know that you are never alone. I want to make sure that you have enough love to fill a lifetime."

"I hope we never have to worry about that," she told him.

"But, Elizabeth, I need to ask you… Are you all right with being pregnant and having small children when I am gone so much? This is hopefully truly my lifetime assignment now and we can put down roots, but that doesn't mean that I won't be gone for shorter periods of time, maybe even up to a couple of weeks. Will you be fine with all of that?"

"I won't like it, but I know what I am signing up for, Jack!"

"That's good, because that is what I meant about needing to know that I wasn't just being selfish, putting my desire over your best interest."

"So, you are fine if we end up getting pregnant right away?"

"I am looking forward to all of the practicing!" he laughed before he reached up and pulled her lips onto his.


	9. Chapter 9

**Okay… Lots and LOTS of steam in this one… Even made myself blush a time or two!**

**Also, there really is a real chapter 8. For some reason, when I fixed something in chapter 6 last night, it overrode what I had written in chapter 8 with chapter 6 again. Anyway, read chapter 8 if you haven't yet… It will make chapter 9 that much better. Thanks for the ongoing support! I am so thrilled that you are all enjoying it!**

Chapter 9

They awoke in the early hours of the morning, intertwined in each others' arms. When Elizabeth opened her eyes, he was looking at her. "Hello!" he whispered softly, pushing a rogue lock of hair back behind her ear.

"Hi!" she breathed out, wondering if she had ever felt so comfortable and safe in her life as she did right at the moment. He was home; he was in her arms, in her bed, next to her, and it all seemed too good to be true.

He rolled over onto his side, facing her. "How are you?" he whispered.

"I am well. How are you?"

"I am perfect!" he said with a lazy smile. "I don't think life could ever get any better than this!"

He took his hand and began to caress her arm, until she reached out to touch his cheek. He then moved his hand, gliding it along the dips and curves of her body. He, with his artist's mind, was taking note, committing every detail to memory, so that he would always have this moment on which to draw. As his hand came to rest on the crest of her hip, he took his fingers and tried to pull her towards him.

She scooted nearer until she was right next to him. He kissed her, slowly at first, but growing in intensity, his breath coming faster, his heart racing harder. He took a chance when she opened her lips a bit and slid his tongue in beside hers. He had done so a few times before, but never when they were horizontal and the effect was like dynamite going off. They were both strong-minded and stubborn and seemed to be fighting each other gently for dominance. Suddenly, there was a flurry of arms and legs, rolling around on the mattress, each of them moaning with pent up desire and longing.

When they came to a stop, he was on top of her, each of their chests heaving. Her skirt was slim, but he was resting between her legs as well as he was able. He looked at her, her auburn hair spread across the white pillow below her, her lips dark and slightly puffy from their recent romp and he was memorized. "I love you!" he gasped, somehow feeling that it was less than sufficient to express what he was feeling in that moment.

"I know!" she said simply and it was the sweetest thing she could have uttered back to him. He knew that she loved him; what he always wanted was to know that she was cognizant of how he felt about her.

"Are you all right like this?" he asked her.

"Mmm-hmmm," she answered.

"I am not crushing you, am I?"

"I wouldn't care if you were. If I could, I would just want you to melt into me. I can't get close enough to you!" she panted.

He took her in his arms once again and flipped her so that she was over him. He had never experienced anything like it and shuddered as he almost lost himself. Then he recalled that he was in his underwear, both top and bottom, and panicked a little. So far, Elizabeth hadn't commented on anything unusual, but he felt it was only a matter of time; however, no matter what he did, he could not calm himself down. He still wasn't sure how much she knew about the anatomy of the opposite gender and he was wondering what he could possible say to her to help her understand. So, he decided to simply relax and not say anything until she did.

She never said a word, but when she moved slightly, he saw her eyebrows go up with curiosity and he felt his face grow warm. But instead of saying anything, she slide off of him to the side and laid her head on his chest and her hand began to slowly stroke his abdomen, at first on the top of his undershirt, but it didn't take long until her hand ventured lower to the bottom edge and then eventually slipped under.

Her silky hand felt like Heaven as it roamed over his stomach and chest. Her fingers wove themselves into the hair on his chest and below his naval with each pass. Elizabeth was surprised to feel just how different a man's torso was than her own. She had never seen a man without a shirt on; even bathing costumes covered their chests and stomachs. She found it very manly and intoxicating, as she did when she felt his solid muscles on his arms and body. She flashed back to the very beginning, back to when they just had met, while she had seen him chopping wood, and she felt the same rush of arousal she did then.

Her hand dipped lower and lower with each pass until she was at the waistband of his drawers. She watched his face carefully for any signs of embarrassment or shame, but instead, his expression was open and anticipatory. On her next pass, she let her fingers dip just below the waistband and he hissed. She was surprised by the charge she got from it, how powerful and bewitching it made her feel to have so much influence on how his body responded.

He knew he was now at her command. His body was under her spell. He thought to himself that he should stop her; that he wanted to protect her honor, but he couldn't have done it if the world was ending around him. He wanted her to touch him. He needed her to touch him. All of his awareness was centered around his groin; if someone would have asked him his name at that point, he would have been loathe to remember it.

On her next pass, she went lower, her knuckles bumping up against him and he moaned loudly, startling her.

"Am I hurting you?" she asked.

"No!" he grunted back to her, having to focus hard in order to form actual words.

"Do you want me to stop?"

He felt helpless under her spell. All he could do was shake is head. All language had failed him.

On her next pass, she put her fingers gently over the top of him. She was fascinated by what she felt. In comparison to everywhere else on him, he was soft, yet not, smooth, warm and felt delicate. She was surprised how much like his lips he felt there. She gently ran her fingertips all the way up and his expression was like nothing she had ever seen before. Ecstasy was the closet way she could think to describe it. She felt his whole body shake, like he was suddenly freezing and she looked up in surprise. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut and his mouth was open. It was truly the most erotic thing she had ever seen and she felt it deep in her core. Something primal and inexplicable was calling her to continue and she did it a few more times, as gentle as a feather. On her third round, he quickly reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling it to his chest, as he panted, "No more!"

"Jack? Are you all right?"

He heard her and logically knew that she was awaiting his response; he could hear that she was worried she had done something wrong or had upset him in some way, and he desperately wanted to reassure her, but when he tried to string together the words, they wouldn't come out. All he could do for several seconds was nod, hoping it was enough to stem her fear.

"I am fine!" he finally gasped.

"I am sorry, darling, if I hurt you!"

"Sweetheart," he huffed, "you most certainly did not hurt me! Quite the opposite, really."

Her face registered her understanding and she gasped, acutely aware about to what he was referring, feeling a combination of disappointment and gratitude all at once that he had stopped her. She knew what would have happened if he had let her continue and she was excited to know that she would have caused it, but the whole concept was still so foreign, and it frightened her a little to know that she could evoke such a reaction from someone else.

As he had come down a bit, he drew her close to him and gave her a kiss that literally curled her toes with arousal. "Elizabeth, I love you and I can't wait until tomorrow night, when I won't feel obligated to stop you."

"All right," she conceded.

They lay together in silence for a long while. Eventually, he rolled over and looked at the alarm clock on her beside table, consistently continuing to tick out each second, regardless of the activities around it. It read three am and Jack exhaled.

"What is it, Jack?"

"It is three am. I have to leave soon."

"But not right yet?" she asked hopefully.

"No, not quite yet," he assured her. "But, I need to get back to the jail before anyone starts to wake up."

She nodded. "I know," she acquiesced.

"This is the best rest I have had in I don't know how long," he told her.

"The bed is nice," she confirmed.

"So is the company in it!"

She smiled. "But after watching you sleep, I am worried that there won't be room for me in here with you!" she joked.

"Why's that?" he asked, surprised. He had awoken so close to her it was almost as if they were fused.

"Because when I came up here to tell you that supper was ready, you were already spread eagle all over the place."

"Sweetheart, I have not been in a proper bed in I can't tell you how many years. Maybe when we went to Hamilton and I stayed in the hotel?"

"You will have to get used to it quick, then, Constable, because if one of us ends up on the floor, it will not be me!" she joked.

"That's all right, Elizabeth. I am used to it!"

"Jack?"

"Yes?"

"How was it up North? Honestly?"

"Cold! Very, very cold!" he answered quickly.

"Well, that goes without saying… I mean, how was it? Was it terrible? Was any part of it fun?"

"I got to drive sled dogs. That was interesting. With a permanent post down this far south, I never thought I would get a chance to do that."

"How was that?"

"Tiring! It is incredibly hard work to keep the dogs all going in the same direction at once and not get them tangled. And they are not nice to each other. They tolerate one another, but that's about it, and forget about getting two different teams anywhere near each other!"

"Jack, do you regret that you won't be stationed up there because of me?"

"Sweetheart, it would have been interesting to experience it for awhile, I won't lie. We are so needed up there. We are the law, the medical treatment, the only contact with the outside world. I only got a small taste of it while I was there, because I was more involved with the training and organizing of our officers, but it was amazing...'

"Oh," Elizabeth said, feeling sad about what he was giving up for her.

He shifted until he could look at her. "But, it is nothing if I can't have you."

She smiled at him. "Thank you," she whispered.

"There may come a time, once our children are older, that we may want to go and try something new. It isn't like the opportunity will never present itself. Many of the guys up there would love to have an opportunity to get 'out' and have a more civilized post."

"It could be interesting," Elizabeth agreed.

"Our lives are our own, Elizabeth. We can do whatever we think is best for our little family. You and me: We are a team. I don't care where we are, as long as we are together!"

They sat in the quiet early morning, each contemplating the new adventure they were embarking upon. Finally, Elizabeth broke the silence.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"The other morning?"

"Uh-huh?"

"When Rosemary came into Abigail's kitchen? What were you two talking about when she asked you if it was bad; as bad as something, and you answered her that it wasn't, but it was for you?"

"Oh!" he exclaimed, not realizing until that moment that he and Rosemary had a history together that no one else would ever know. It was like they could speak in their own language.

"Our fathers served together straight out of the academy. They were at the North-West Rebellion."

"Were they really?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yes, and it was a trial by fire, to be sure. They were at Duck Lake."

"Oh!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, they were both really lucky to make it out both alive and unwounded."

"That's amazing!"

"It was! But, then they were somehow also at Loon Lake, so it was like they saw both ends of everything. It was hard for them; they lost some good friends that day. But, then, there was a sort of poetic justice to be on the winning side later."

"So, when Rosemary asked you…"

"What she meant was that it was incredibly difficult for our fathers to have been there. They always remembered their fallen brothers. But, they were also working to protect and serve and they didn't want to hurt any of the natives, either. It was a tough spot to be in and I don't envy them!"

"Me, either. But, Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"What did you mean that it wasn't as bad as that, but for you, it was?"

"Oh!" he said. He really didn't know how to explain to her how difficult it had been on him to lose some of his men. This was different than even what his father had endured; he was responsible for them and it made him ill to think that he couldn't prevent them from dying. He also didn't know how to explain to her that even though it was his job to shoot to kill if he needed to, it was not something he revealed in; in fact, it made him as ill as when his own men had been cut down. He didn't want to take human life if he could avoid it, regardless of what the people had done. He believed strongly in justice, not vigilantism.

He turned again and looked at the clock and told her, "Elizabeth, we will talk about it later, all right, sweetheart? Right now, it is almost 3:30 and I need to get out of here."

"I understand," she told him, but she worried that he was keeping something from her.

"I love you, though, very much, and I will see you later, all right? Hopefully, by tonight, you will be Mrs. Jack Thornton." He bent down and delivered a kiss to her forehead.

"I love you, Jack! Please be careful!"

"Always, sweetheart! I have too much to lose."

Elizabeth listened as he went down the stairs and out the door. She snuggled down into her quilts and fell to sleep, knowing that as long as he loved her, she could handle anything.


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry for the delay; it was a busy weekend. No steam in this one. It is kind of heavy, but I feel important, read. Enjoy!**

Chapter 10

Jack was anxious. His rounds were covered by Bill. He didn't have much to do before the wedding which had been scheduled for that evening. Rosemary had pounced on poor Pastor Frank the minute he came back to town last night; rumor had it that she had come at him from the front porch steps, where she had been sitting and waiting, and Frank had almost fallen off his horse when he came to a stop at the church. Once his pulse had slowed down enough that he could think straight, he had enthusiastically agreed to perform the wedding ceremony the next evening at six o'clock.

That had started off a chain of events in the town like no one had seen since the mobilization during the flood. Within 20 minutes of school starting on Friday morning, Rosemary had assembled all of the available adult females at the cafe and they had begun working on cloth roses and bows of tulle and velvet. For the other women who were a bit artistically challenged with a needle and thread Abigail set them to work cooking and baking for the reception. Abigail had finished the cake in the wee hours of the morning, too excited with pent up energy to sleep. Though not fancy, the fare would be warm, tasty and hearty, with Jack's favorite, Abigail's beef stew, and plenty of hot, flakey biscuits for Elizabeth, though Rosemary was quick to point out that Elizabeth couldn't eat any of them if she was going to be able to stay tucked into her dress.

A little before ten, Dottie and Rosemary ducked out of the café to the dress shop in order to meet Elizabeth for her fitting. They had everything laid out for her when she swept through the door and the excitement was palatable. Rosemary, knowing Elizabeth's mother was all the way in Hamilton, had told Abigail, who was the ultimate mix of best friend and mother figure, to come to the shop at 10:30, giving them enough time to get Elizabeth into the dress before she arrived.

Elizabeth had stepped behind the curtain and had stripped off her dress and waited anxiously for Rosemary to bring in the wedding dress she had worn, cradled carefully in her arms. She began clucking like a mother hen.

"Now, Elizabeth, don't get too worried about it if it doesn't fit right away. Dottie and I are simply magic with a needle and thread and we will somehow piece it together to work for you," she prattled as she helped Elizabeth gather the gown above her head to pull it on. "We can also cinch that corset a bit more!"

As the gown shimmed to the floor in one fluid movement, Rosemary's jaw dropped open.

"Do me up?" Elizabeth said, trying to hide the mirth in her voice, as she turned her back to the other woman. Rosemary slid each button through its hole as smoothly as a warm knife through butter. The dress fit Elizabeth like a glove, except for the fact that it was several inches too short.

When she was fully encased in the elegant fabric, Rosemary opened the curtain and Dottie gasped as Elizabeth stepped out and made her way to the squat stool on which she would stand to allow for the hem to be taken out and re-pinned to fit her. As soon as she was perched there, the bell for the door jingled and Abigail walked in. She took one look at her dearest friend and her hand came to her mouth as tears sprung to her eyes.

"Oh, Elizabeth! You are without a doubt the most beautiful bride I have ever seen!" she declared, oblivious to Rosemary's look of annoyance. "I have never seen anything as elegant and beautiful as you are!"

Elizabeth turned to her friend and the tears rolled down her cheeks. "I never would have thought in a million years that I would be standing here in a wedding dress! It felt like it would never happen!"

"That man is not going to know what hit him the minute those doors open. Elizabeth, I hope you don't have any big plans for Jack tonight," she continued, laughing. "I have a feeling that we will all be stepping over him for the rest of the evening once he sees the vision you are!"

The women got to work on the hem, crying, laughing and talking about their memories together and Rosemary kept them all in stitches with stories of all of the scrapes Jack got into as a child.

"I know I shouldn't tell you this, Elizabeth, but I can't tell you how many times Charlotte would curse Jack saying, 'I can't wait until the day you have children of your own!' So, be warned, Elizabeth: With as many scrapes as that boy got into, you can have two dozen boys and still have a surplus of her wishes for payback."

"Well, I am a teacher. Little boys and their antics are no secret to me!"

"Oh, my dear, sweet friend Elizabeth. I don't think you have any idea what you are up against. These weren't just pranks, and he wasn't always little when he did them. That boy had moxy!" Rosemary took a deep breath before continuing. She began to laugh. "I think the worse thing he ever did was when we were about eleven. His father was about to go to a remote post for a few months to cover for an officer who was ill and needed to get 'out' for treatment. Jack was so angry! His baseball team was going to the town championships two days after Tom Sr. was slated to leave. So, Jack went to the livery where the RCMP kept their horses and took his father's out and rode him about 3 miles out of town. Then, he jumped off and ran home. Of course, the horse was a good boy and had started to make its way back when he was found by another officer who saw the horse on his rounds. Jack's father was fit to be tied! It had taken a switch to coerce that boy to finally talk! But, that wasn't enough of a deterrent, because the night before he was leaving, Jack took his father's red serge and dragged it through the mud. He knew that his father had to have a clean and neat uniform, so he figured that since the horse idea hadn't worked, he would give this a try."

"What?" Elizabeth cried, surprised how deviant her finance had been as a young lad.

"Oh, yes! Charlotte had cleaned and pressed it, all ready to go for the morning and Jack had waited until everyone was asleep and crept into their room and took it. He left it in the yard in a mud puddle. I don't think that boy could sit for a week between his two lashings!" Rosemary laughed. "Oh, and don't even get me started on Tom Jr. I am surprised that Charlotte did kill them both. After Tom Sr. passed, they both were really tough: Acting out, fighting, skipping school. With as tough as Charlotte is, even she had to admit defeat after awhile. She was just too grieved to deal with them effectively, so she sent them to Tom Sr.'s brother. That's the farm Jack always talks about."

"I don't believe you!" Elizabeth defended Jack's honor, her chin tipped up in defiance. Rosemary merely laughed.

After a few minutes, Elizabeth asked meekly, "So, what did his father do about going?"

"Oh, he went, all right. Right after Jack got the whipping of his life!"

"But, what about his uniform?"

"Oh! That! Well, thankfully, his father and mine were about the same size, so Tom Sr. just took one of my father's and Charlotte had to replace it while he was gone. Everyone had two, thankfully, but at a remote posting, you have to take both: You never know what might happen and it isn't easy to get another one."

"Did Jack's team win the baseball championship?"

"Goodness, no! They lost by a mile. Of course he always said it was because Charlotte wouldn't let him play. That woman is a force to be reckoned with. He went to watch," Rosemary chuckled, "but his bottom was too sore to sit in the stands!"

"But Tom was certainly much worse!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"Oh, Elizabeth, he may have been wild for longer, but believe me, Jack had his moments. I remember hearing Charlotte talking to my mother in the kitchen not long after the boys had gone to live at the farm. Jack had gotten into trouble at school for fighting, he tried to run away and he got into his uncle's whiskey on several occasions."

"Constable Thornton?" Dottie asked in disbelief.

"Oh, yes, Dottie! He was not always the upstanding, law-enforcing man he is today!" Rosemary affirmed.

"What changed?" Abigail asked, getting sucked into the conversation.

"I am not sure, honestly. He grew up a lot when he was on the farm, though. I think his uncle was enough like his father that after his anger and disappointment dissipated a bit, he began to see his uncle as a father figure. He didn't want to disappoint him any more than he would have wanted to disappoint his own father."

The room was quite as everyone contemplated how hard it must have been for Jack and his brother to lose their father when they needed him the most.

Rosemary continued, "He also saw how hard it was on Charlotte. I guess he just matured enough to see that he wasn't helping her any by adding to her burdens. So, he decided to become a man his father would have been proud of, rather than yet another reason for Charlotte to worry. He never was really bad at any other time than when he was disappointed or angry with his father."

"Speaking of children, Elizabeth," Dottie broke in. "Have you and Constable Thornton spoken about having a family?"

Elizabeth nodded. "Yes, we spoke about it yesterday, in fact!"

"And?"

"And, he says he wants five children, six at the most!" Elizabeth's terror was evident on her face and the other women laughed.

"Remember, Elizabeth, they come one at a time!" Abigail told her gently.

"Unless we are like Carla! She had some two at a time!" Elizabeth quipped back.

Abigail began to snicker. "Yes, that probably was not the best delivery for you to witness as your first. That can happen, Elizabeth, but it is pretty rare!" Of course what Abigail didn't add was that it was even rarer that everyone survived the ordeal.

Jack was tired of pacing. He hadn't slept since leaving Elizabeth's and had already washed his clothes in his bag, swept and cleaned the jail, polished his boots and cleaned his weapon and now he was bored, lonely and anxious. He decided that he would go over and speak with Abigail to try and calm his nerves and give him something else to focus on than the long, restless hours that stretched before him, so he closed and locked the jail and walked across the street to the café.

He walked into what looked like organized chaos. The din of so many female voices at once was deafening. He stood in the doorway and watched the commotion, wondering how he was ever going to find Abigail and what he would say to her if he did. He wanted some calm, comfortable reassurance, not to be at the center of a sewing circle.

Clara looked up and saw him. "Good afternoon, Constable Thornton! The café is closed for lunch today! But, the saloon is open."

Jack heard a woman whisper to another, "Just what a man on his wedding night needs: Beans for lunch!" and the other woman laughed in response.

"Great!" thought Jack. "They are right! Now what am I going to eat?"

"Actually, I was just looking for Abigail. Any idea where she might be?"

"She is at the dress shop, Constable!" Clara said before she was interrupted by Mary asking her a question about where a certain serving dish was kept and seizing the opportunity, Jack turned and left without another word.

He walked up to the door of Dottie's shop and opened the door. His eyes were taking a minute to adjust from the bright sunshine outside to the darker interior of the establishment. But, before he could really see anything, he heard a roar of female voices.

"No! Jack! DO NOT COME IN HERE!" was yelled to him by at least three voices, maybe four.

"What? Why?" he asked, confused.

"Because it is bad luck to see the bride before the wedding, Jack! You know that!" Rosemary exclaimed dramatically.

"Rosie, really! I have been away from her for ten months! I think that we have the bad luck thing covered already!"

His eyes had adjusted while he was speaking just enough to see a white streak run further back into the store and close the curtain.

"Elizabeth?" he called out.

"Jack! You have to leave! You can't see me like this!"

"I actually came to see Abigail!" he protested. "Clara told me she was here. No one said you were here, too, or that I couldn't see you!"

Elizabeth cringed a little. He sounded sad. The whole tradition thing seemed silly to her when she already was breaking with so many of them. But, a nagging voice in her head told her that with his job, they didn't need to take any unnecessary chances.

"Jack, I am sorry, but I will see you at six, all right? I can't wait!"

"All right," he sighed. "I love you!"

He turned and shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked back towards the door and Abigail felt a rush of maternal-like love for him. He looked lost and forlorn. In truth, neither of them had their families there. Elizabeth had every female in town rallying behind her, but Jack was on his own.

She caught Dottie's eye and nodded towards the door. Dottie tipped her chin in understanding because her mouth was full of pins and Abigail ducked out onto the sidewalk.

"Jack!" she called out to him.

He turned around and smiled softly at her.

"How are you?" she breathed out as she hurried over to him.

"I am all right," he answered, but something in his demeanor told her otherwise.

"Jack, what is it? You aren't having second thoughts, are you?"

Jack looked surprised at her comment. "Not at all! I can't wait to make Elizabeth my wife!"

"Then what is it, Jack?" she probed.

"I just want to be with her. We are about to embark on one of life's greatest adventures together and I need my best friend! I love Elizabeth, of course, but she is also the first person I want to be near when I am nervous, sad, angry or excited, but no one will let me see her. To be honest, Abigail, I feel a bit lost right now." His shoulders drooped in frustration and defeat.

Abigail nodded. "Weddings really are more about the bride, that is for sure!" she answered him, patting him gently on his back.

"Apparently they are. She is so busy, but for me, every minute feels like an eternity until I can be with her!"

"Jack, have you discussed with Elizabeth what you are wearing tonight?"

"Sort of. She told me I could wear my uniform or one of my suits; that it didn't matter to her."

"So which are you choosing then?"

"I am not sure. I brushed my uniform and did my washing this morning, polished both pairs of my boots, and got out my suits. I don't know which is the most appropriate." Jack thought to himself that since Rip died, he couldn't even ask him what he should wear. Elizabeth had told him the first night he was back that Rip had passed while he was gone and Jack had felt the loss deeply.

"Why is that?"

"Well, because I always thought after I proposed that I would get married in my uniform. That's what most men on the Force do if they do get married. That's what my father did…" he trailed off.

"Oh! I see," said Abigail. "But, now you are torn because you don't want to jinx anything."

"Exactly!" Jack said, relieved that she hadn't laughed or balked at him.

"Jack, I get that you are worried about history repeating itself, but I have to ask you, and want you to answer me with logic: Do you think you are any more likely to die while on the job because of what you wore on one occasion?"

"I don't know," he whispered.

"Or, alternatively, when you are old and grey, do you think that your uniform will be what kept you alive?"

"No! I mean, it sort of makes me more of a target, doesn't it?"

"I don't know, Jack. What do you think?" He didn't answer her.

"Do you think your father would have thought that the reason he got the injury that led to his death was because of what he wore or didn't wear on his wedding day?"

"No, but…,"

"But, what, Jack?"

"In a way, it was because he wore that uniform that he died!"

"Yes, Jack. He wore that uniform to serve his fellow citizens and he died while doing that. But, do you think it was the uniform specifically, or the job that he did while wearing the uniform that caused it?"

"No, it wasn't the uniform; it was the job."

"So, last question. Will not wearing your uniform on your wedding day make you any less of a Mountie?"

"No…," he declared quietly, looking sideways at his friend.

"I lied… one more. What do you want?"

"I want Elizabeth to know she is marrying the man, not the Mountie! You told me that, Abigail!"

"I did!" she confirmed. "But, that was a long time ago, back when you were too busy being a constable to be a human!" She started chuckling, but Jack did not look amused.

She continued. "I think, Jack, what I am trying to say, is that being Jack and being a Mountie are one in the same. It is a large, important part of who you are. Your identity will not change based on what you wear or don't wear, because either way, we all know you are a constable, right?"

"Right," he agreed.

"One more question…," she said.

"Fine," he acquiesced.

"When you have a little boy of your own who is studying the wedding picture of his mother and father, do you want him to see Jack, the man, or Jack, the Mountie?"

Jack was instantly transported to all of the years he stared unceasingly at the one picture of his parents, together on their wedding day. His mother was so young and beautiful; his father was handsome and masculine. Even before he passed, Jack had looked to that picture for as long as he could remember any time he felt lonely or lost while his father was away.

He had a sort of love/hate relationship with the photo, so proud of his father, but angry, too, that his job frequently took him away from those who desperately loved and needed him most. He would get irritated when he was younger about how it seemed as though his father was choosing strangers over his family. Now, he realized, of course, that it was so much more complicated than that. He wasn't sure when that anger changed instead to only admiration. It hadn't been clear cut. But, after his mother had sent him and Tom to live with their uncle because they were too incorrigible to deal with while she was so incredibly grief-stricken, he had come home for Christmas and looked upon that photo and it was the start. It was when he felt the anger and hurt start to flow out of him and the respect rush in.

His father had sacrificed his own health, safety and family to help others: Strangers who on a regular basis didn't appreciate him because they were lawbreakers, those whom he often saved from themselves, or maybe those who just didn't like that he interfered with their lives. His father had married and had children, but he had still gotten up every morning to leave everything he loved, sometimes for long stretches of time, in order to protect and serve those he didn't even know. Jack realized in that moment of investigating the simple photo he had seen a million times before that it had taken an incredible amount of dedication and duty. While other Mounties did it with few deep connections to other human beings, his father had chosen to do it while completely cognizant of what he was sacrificing and, even more importantly, what he was asking others to sacrifice for him.

He remembered turning away from the photo, his eyes running, to see his mother standing in the doorway, watching him. She opened her arms to him and he had run to her, both of them sobbing.

"Jack," his mother had said, "you have to know that he didn't choose to be a Mountie over a husband and father; they were all the parts that made him whole. He was fulfilled and satisfied and lived the life he wanted. It took a huge sacrifice on our part, but he loved us all the more fiercely for it, and to love him was to love everything about him."

"I know, Ma," was all he could answer, partly because of his own emotions, but mostly because of the shock of seeing his mother cry. She had always been tough; unyielding. She had to be both mother and father for long periods of time in his youth and would have never chanced being seen as weak or fragile then.

Jack didn't remember how long they had sat and cried together, sometimes smiling through their tears as they remembered particularly amusing tales. He recalled that Tom did not join them that day. He had come home from a friend's and seen them on the floor in the sitting room, laughing and crying, Tom and Charlotte's wedding photo between them, and he had turned around and walked out. Jack had tried to go after him, but Charlotte stopped him, saying, "Jack, he just might not be ready yet."

And she was right. Tom had never attempted to understand their father the way Jack had come to do. He was still the same angry and hurt little boy his father had left behind and had been until he had finally allowed Jack to speak about him in Hamilton. He then realized that he could have easily been the same way if it hadn't been for that photo; the one his mother had given him on the day he had left for the academy.

Thinking about his beloved soon-to-be wife and their future children, he understood in that moment that he wanted to be immortalized in his wedding photo next his soul mate, wearing his uniform, because both represented the sum of his experiences; the person he had grown to be. The RCMP had affected his sense of self and duty for his entire life, either directly or indirectly, but Elizabeth had fulfilled a dream he didn't even know he had. He never wanted Elizabeth or his children to doubt for an instant where his sense of loyalty lay; that despite the uniform, he would always first and foremost commit to being a husband and hopefully father. Wearing his red serge for the ceremony meant that, through fate, he was joining together the two things that completed him and it signified how much he appreciated that without one, he would never have had the other. He could see God's hand in everything leading up to when he met the love of his life while doing his job and now he would do his job with and because of her continued love and support. She would truly be his partner and helpmate.

He also wanted them to know that if he succumbed in the line of duty, he would die a happy and fulfilled man, just as his father had done before him. He wanted his sons or daughters to recognize when they looked at the picture, if the inevitable came, that he was able to accomplish what he felt duty-bound to carry out, even though he knew what it could cost them, because he could count on them to be strong and carry on, just as his mother and eventually he and even Tom had managed to do.

After Rosemary, he had never imagined he would marry because he thought it would be too hard on a wife and family, but he realized in that moment that Elizabeth's being headstrong and capable was just the same way his mother had been, which is what had made it possible for his father to ride off unburdened: He had known that she didn't like it, but she was competent enough to let him go anyway, and he rested in the reassurance that life could go on without him if need be. Jack had never drawn the comparison between his mother and Elizabeth before, as on the surface, they seemed as different as night and day, but now it all made sense to him. He had thought that Rosemary would be the perfect wife because she understood the Mountie lifestyle, but it had turned out to be a rich heiress from Hamilton to truly understand that to love someone meant being selfless enough to give them the guarantee it was all right to fly.

Jack turned to Abigail. "I am wearing my uniform!" he declared.

"Good choice!" Abigail said, putting an arm around him and giving him a side squeeze.

Abigail watched him return to the jail, seemingly several pounds lighter, as if someone had lifted a burden off of his shoulders. She smiled to herself, thinking about how even as adults, people continue to grow and change, especially when there are obstacles in their paths which are difficult at the time, even seemingly insurmountable while in the thick of it, but, ultimately, those trials are what make people stronger.

On her way back to the dress shop, she ran into Frank on the sidewalk.

"Frank!" she called out to get his attention.

"Good morning, Abigail! How are you this fine day?"

"I am almost as anxious as the bride and groom, I am afraid."

"I understand. I think we are all holding our breaths, not daring to believe it is happening until they are finally wed!"

"Exactly!" Abigail agreed. "Frank, I think Jack can use a friend or two. Everyone is making such a fuss over Elizabeth and I think he feels a little lonely and pensive. Do you think you could go visit him for a little while?"

"I can do better than that." Frank explained. "I am going to round up Lee and Bill and a few others and we will take him over to the saloon for a few shots or pints and a game or two of darts."

"That sounds like a great idea!" Abigail agreed. "Thank you!"

She turned and re-entered the dress shop, her breath immediately taken from her when she saw Elizabeth in her all her finery, her face radiant with joy, more than ready for the ceremony in several hours' time.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Pastor Frank knocked on the door to the jail and entered to find Jack sitting at his desk, leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed.

"Sleeping, Jack?"

"No! Not at all. Just trying to relax."

"You nervous?"

"Sure!"

"No second thoughts, though, right?"

"Absolutely not! Why does everyone keep asking me that?"

"I don't know, Jack. Maybe because a nervous groom makes all of the rest of us nervous, too, especially with the history you two have. No one will rest easy until those rings are on your fingers."

"I suppose…"

"I came by to see if you maybe wanted to go to the saloon for a little while with me, Bill, Lee and a few others."

"As long as we don't eat there!" Jack responded, the comment made by the two ladies at the café that morning was not far from his mind.

"I figured that. I got you covered. I asked Abigail to pack us some snacks."

The two men walked across the street and joined the other men at a table. Lee left as soon as they came in and came back carrying several shot glasses of whiskey.

"Drink up, my friends!" he declared as he placed them all in the center of the table.

Everyone grabbed one as Bill stood and held his glass high. "Here's to you and Elizabeth and your life together! May you grow old and grey together with a gaggle of grandchildren about your knees."

"Here, here!" echoed the other men as Jack answered, "From you lips to God's ears!"

The next round was on Bill and he came back with whiskey, as well. Under the glare of Mr. Trevoy, Frank began to unpack the snacks Abigail had made, because he was worried that if he didn't, he might not be able to keep the promise he made to her to not let Jack get too inebriated, even though, knowing Jack, he wasn't really worried.

The men began playing darts and switched to beers. The more they drank, the worse they threw, laughing heartily with one another and making crude jokes at Jack's expense. At first he had been mortified as they made innuendos about his lack of aim and prowess, offering "tips" that would increase his likelihood to score. Lee's knowing what happened between him and Rosemary made him especially sensitive until he had enough alcohol flowing through his veins that he let go and laughed along with them.

"So, Jack… Ready for the event tonight?" Lee asked him as they were waiting for their turns.

"More than you can imagine!' Jack answered enthusiastically.

"Pretty excited about a wedding, there, Jack!"

"Oh! You meant the wedding!"

Lee's laugh echoed throughout the saloon, causing everyone to look over at them. Despite Jack's being a bit tipsy, he felt his face flame. Lee clapped him on the back.

"Jack, I'm sorry! That was really funny! But, I get it. Four years, man. You could qualify for sainthood with that kind of restraint." The other men nodded in agreement.

"Believe me, it has been really hard at times, especially since I came home, and she is not making it any easier on me, that's for sure!"

"Well, I guess it won't be too long until there will be a little Thornton joining us, then." Lee stated. "Which is good, because our baby will need someone to play with!"

Jack's brain was not working at full capacity, the effects of the alcohol still impacting his thought process. Lee looked at him and noticed that Jack was silent; stunned, even.

"Jack, are you all right?"

Jack looked up at him and said, "We are going to have children! I am going to be a father!"

Lee looked a bit perplexed. "Yes, Jack, that is generally what happens when one is married and engages in… married… activities."

"I know that logically," Jack stated, annoyed. "I just never thought about that there will be an actual baby. A baby that is mine and Elizabeth's. Made by doing… that!"

"One step at a time, friend. The baby isn't just handed to you your first time after the wedding ceremony. I should know!"

"Wait," said Jack, still not fully engaged. "Did you just say that your baby needs a playmate?"

Lee grinned. "I did!"

"You and Rosie?"

"Yup. Me and Rosie. By doing… 'that', as you put it."

"That's incredible!" Jack exclaimed, his emotions feeling just a little to big for his body due to his own excitement and the whiskey and beer circulating around in him.

"It is!" Lee agreed. "We were starting to get a bit worried. You know, we have been married quite awhile and we have been doing… 'that' quite often for a long time."

"How far gone is she?"

"About two or three months is what we think. She had sort of given up paying attention. But that means that you and Elizabeth have to hurry up and catch up!"

"We will do our absolute best!" Jack grinned, looking even more forward to sharing themselves with each other and seeing what would come to pass.

It had been Lee's turn for quite awhile and the other men had waited while he and Jack seemed to be entrenched in an important conversation, but when they heard the excitement in Jack and Lee's voices, they gathered around them.

"What's all of the commotion?" Frank asked.

"I am going to be a father!" Lee declared to the whole room. Cheers and hardy congratulations rolled out from every direction and Mr. Trevoy came out with a fresh bottle of whiskey and several clean glasses.

"This deserves a toast!" the barkeep exclaimed, pouring up a generous glass for every man. "Drink up, boys!"

"Here's to Lee and Rosemary and their impending arrival!" Bill announced. "May they have a safe delivery and a house full of love!"

"Now, gentleman," Lee said. "I appreciate the congratulations, but please, we didn't want to announce it today and detract from Elizabeth and Jack's big day. So, mum's the word until after tonight, all right?"

The rest of the afternoon passed quickly and Jack was grateful for the distraction. But, as the hour grew later, the more anxious he became in direct relation to how much he sobered up. At about four o'clock, he excused himself to leave because he could no longer concentrate properly on anything and went back to the jail. After he bathed and dressed, he paced, back and forth across the floor, his longing to see her increasing with every step. At half past five, Lee came to the jail and found a very pale and distracted Jack.

"Are you all right, Jack?" he asked, his voice thick with concern.

"No," Jack answered.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "Oh, please, don't tell you me you drank too much and aren't feeling well! Rosemary will kill me!"

"I'm fine!" Jack answered. "I may not drink often anymore, but I had enough practice in my youth: I can hold my liquor. Better than I should, honestly."

"So, what is it, then?"

"I just want to see her, Lee. I haven't seen her all day!"

"Not too much longer, Jack. Half and hour and it's show time!"

"You sound like Rosie!" Jack laughed.

"I guess she rubs off on me a bit, doesn't she?" Lee chuckled. "Let's head over to the church and wait there."

"Lee, where is she?"

"I think she is at Abigail's. Why?"

"Lee, I have to see her. I have to know that she is real, that this is truly happening and not just another dream. I keep waiting to wake up to a cloud of blowing snow."

"There is no way that those women will let you within 100 feet of her! In fact, I think they may come after me with pitch forks and torches if I dare suggest it."

"Please, Lee," Jack begged. "I don't have to see her. I just… I just want to talk to her; to hear her voice."

Lee heard the anguish in Jack's voice and made a split-second decision. "Wait here!" he said. "I will go over there and ask Abigail if there is any way we can let you speak to her where you won't see her."

"Thank you!" Jack sighed, instantly feeling calmer already.

Lee ran across the street and Jack waited on pins and needles for what felt like eternity. Finally, at twenty to six, he came back.

"Here's the deal," he stated. "Rosemary was fit to be tied and flat out refused!"

"But… Wh," Jack began to interrupt.

" _But_ ," Lee emphasized, "Abigail intervened. I am taking you there now. You will stand on the side of the staircase and once you are situated, they will bring her down the stairs. You _cannot_ turn and look at her, Jack. I don't want to get murdered in my sleep by my wife. Promise me! You know she would do it, too!"

"I promise," Jack said solemnly.

He followed behind Lee, feeling like he was having an out-of-body experience. Abigail opened the door and smiled at him, which he returned nervously. He then looked around and saw other faces, Clara, Bill and Rosemary, the later glaring at him like he had committed some horrible faux pas at a Hamilton dinner party.

"Hi, ladies," Jack said feebly.

"You had better not look at her, Thornton!" Rosie growled.

"Yes, ma'am," he joked back at her, giving her a salute.

Once he was situated, standing against the wall on the side of the staircase, where her descent would be hidden from his view, he heard Abigail go up the stairs and knock on the door that had been hers when she lived there. He closed his eyes and gathered himself as he heard her footfalls on the steps and held his breath.

When she stopped, he said, "Elizabeth?"

"Yes. Jack? Are you all right?"

"I am now," he answered her. He felt awkward with everyone around them and he pleaded with his eyes to Abigail to give them just a moment alone.

"Let's all go into the café!" Abigail said brightly.

"Not on your life!" Rosemary retorted.

"Rosie!" Lee said sharply, as he started to laugh. "They are both adults. Good grief, give them a minute's peace. We will be right over there!"

Once Jack watched them move into the other room, he took a deep breath. "I just had to talk to you, Elizabeth. I had to tell you I love you, because I know once I see you in there, I won't be able to form a coherent sentence. So, here goes: I love you, Elizabeth Thatcher and thank you for agreeing to be my wife."

"I love you, too, Jack," she whispered back to him. His longing to kiss her was overwhelming; he knew he had to do something.

"Elizabeth, give me your hand," he told her and she reached hers out of the stairwell, as he reached his out behind him and clasped hers with his. He saw Rosemary start to walk back into the kitchen, her face set with irritation, until Lee grabbed her elbow and pulled her back. Jack shot him a grateful look.

He squeezed her hand and felt an overwhelming need to pray. So, he began to speak.

"Our dear Lord, Elizabeth and I will come before Thee shortly to join our lives together in what we pray is the light of Thy blessing. Please watch over us and guide us. Please protect us and help us to always remember Thy love for us. Bless our home that it may always be filled with joy and love in each other, our children and our love for Thee. In these things we pray, Amen."

Elizabeth said nothing, but he heard her sniffle and he smiled, giving her hand a squeeze.

"Thank you, Elizabeth," he said. "I feel much better now."

"I love you, Jack Thornton," she whispered.

"I love you, too. I will see you in just a few minutes! Now, go back upstairs so that I can get to the church on time!"

He smiled as he heard her ascend the stairs and for the first time noticed that everyone else in the room was looking at him, Rosemary, Clara and Abigail all wiping their eyes.

"Jack Thornton, you beat all!" Rosemary told him. "Now we are all going to be late because we will have to fix our faces!'

"Come on, lover boy!" Lee told him, clapping him on the back. "You are making the rest of us look bad!"

Jack felt more at peace in the few minutes leading up to the wedding than he had felt all day. As he stood beside Frank and Lee, watching their fellow citizens of their beloved adopted town filter in, he realized he had never felt such an affinity for any other place he had ever lived. These people were his friends and neighbors. They had encouraged, cajoled and supported his and Elizabeth's relationship since before they realized themselves that they had one and now they were all there to witness the culmination of years of both heartache and joy.

He looked around and saw the effort everyone had put forth to pull together a wedding in just a few short days and their affection for the couple was apparent in every stitch and tuck that decorated the pews, walls and pulpit. Elizabeth's students sat patiently as they awaited their beloved teacher's entrance and Jack could see the adoration and pride in their eyes. As he scanned the room, several of the children caught his eye and would smile at him, completely at ease that he would be the one who would hold her heart forever; they approved and Jack chuckled to himself that it made him feel better knowing that they entrusted someone they cared about so much to him. When he glanced at Opal, she smiled shyly at him and hugged her bear tighter into her chest, then timidly waved to him. He raised his hand and discretely waved back.

Then, the doors opened and Cat began to play the piano. He smiled as first Rosemary, then Abigail came down the aisle and stopped on Frank's opposite side. Directly after, he heard the congregation rise as his gaze was fixed on the vision standing at the threshold and then everything went blank.


	12. Chapter 12

**I am so sorry… I didn't mean to make the last chapter a cliffhanger. I guess since I knew what was coming next, I didn't think about it! Anyway, a little steam in this one, mostly innuendo and flirting. Enjoy!**

**Also, some people have been asking me if I write professionally. My answer is sort of… I started writing about 18 months ago and during that time, I have written two 500 page novels and am 2/3 of the way through my third. I am still looking for a literary agent to represent me to a publisher, so if anyone knows of one, I am open to suggestions! I appreciate the compliments! I do enjoy writing very much and find it to be a great outlet. Thanks for the ongoing support!**

Chapter 12

It took several seconds for Jack to focus and remember to breathe. He had been enchanted and once his vision honed in on her, he had seen nothing else but white and it was as if his body forgot how to function.

She came up the aisle, holding tightly to Bill, her eyes already filling with tears and her bouquet so loving created shaking slightly. Jack stood in a state of indecision, wanting to watch her and go to her simultaneously, and had to force himself to stay put and wait for them to come to him.

As they came to a stop before the pastor, Frank asked Bill who gave the woman away to be wed and his answer, "We, the citizens of Hope Valley do… Finally!" caused an enthralled chuckle to ripple throughout the attendees.

Bill then carefully unwound Elizabeth's arm from around his and gently placed her hand in Jack's, kissing her cheek, before turning around and sitting between Abigail and Clara in the first pew.

Elizabeth looked at Jack, really seeing him for the first time, and when she realized he had worn his uniform after all, she smiled at him. She had wanted him to do so, but had wanted him to be able to have his say in at least this detail with no input from anyone else. He returned her smile as he took his thumb and gently wiped away an errant tear that had escaped her brimming eyes. He then brought her hand, which was still in his, to his lips and kissed it softly, meeting her gaze with his own, making her heart flutter with more than just nerves.

Elizabeth heard that Frank was talking, but she couldn't make out the words. She was lost in their own little world. They may have been standing in front of all of their friends, but in that moment, it was as if just the two of them existed. Jack never let go of her hand, squeezing it reassuringly from time to time, and she could feel him watching her more than he was looking at Frank. She allowed herself to glance at him once and he was studying her with such adoration she knew that if she continued to gaze at him she would melt into a puddle of tears at his feet.

She was concentrating on remembering to breathe in and out. Then, she realized that everyone was quiet and those surrounding them, as well as Frank, were looking at her expectantly.

"I'm sorry?" she asked.

"It's time for the vows," Frank told her gently.

"Oh! Right!"

She turned to face Jack and all she wanted was to fling herself into his embrace. He was her comfort; her peace. She heard Frank began to speak again and saw how Jack looked deeply into her eyes as he held both of her hands in his and repeated after the Pastor.

"I, Jack, take thee, Elizabeth, to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish till death us do part according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I give thee my troth."

His started off strong, but by the end, his voice was shaking with emotion. He squeezed her hands and gave her a trembling smile, still not truly believing that this was happening and that he wouldn't wake up cold and alone once again.

Frank turned to Elizabeth and said, "Now it's you, Elizabeth." She nodded.

"Repeat after me…"

"I, Elizabeth, take thee, Jack, to be my wedded Husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health," Her voice was quivering, her eyes magnified by her unshed tears.

She breathed deeply before continuing. "To love, cherish, and to obey.."

Jack broke in there. "Not obey," he said sternly.

She looked questioningly at him.

"I don't want you to say that you will obey me, Elizabeth. You are my partner, my helpmate. I don't want to control you; I want us to work together."

"All right, then," Frank jumped in. "Let's continue."

"To love, and cherish," Frank over-annunciated, looking directly at Jack, "till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I give thee my troth."

Elizabeth repeated the amended words with a smile. She knew Jack would never make her obey him in the sense that he had interpreted the word, but it made her happy to hear that he truly thought of her as his equal; that they were a team. When she finished, he squeezed her hands again.

Frank spoke again, reveling in the joy that Jack and Elizabeth had found one another and the significance of the covenant to love and cherish one another they had just entered into, forsaking all others, but neither of them really heard what he was saying. Instead, they were gazing at each other, communicating their love and devotion between the two of them without words and to watch them was as if everyone else had faded away and they were the only two in existence. Elizabeth glanced up when Frank spoke her name and he began to chuckle.

"It's time for your ring, Elizabeth."

She was shocked. Jack had given her such a beautiful engagement ring; she hadn't expected anything else. She was fully prepared and delighted to just have it become her wedding ring after the ceremony, but he had other plans.

Cody stepped forward and handed Jack the small white gold band he was holding in his palm, his fingers wrapped protectively around it. Jack took it from him and repeated Frank's words while looking deeply into Elizabeth's eyes.

"Just as this circle is without end, my love for you is eternal. Just as it is made of incorruptible substance, my commitment to you will never fail. With this ring, I thee wed."

He slipped the ring on her finger and for the first time, her tears began to really fall as she whispered, "Thank you!" to him.

"All right, Elizabeth. Now your turn!"

Elizabeth looked up in surprise. They had not discussed Jack's wearing a ring; she had just assumed he wouldn't due to the added cost and the physical requirements of his job. As Emily stood up and shyly stepped forward, she pulled a matching white gold band off of her thumb and handed it to the dumbstruck woman.

"Repeat after me," Frank said again.

As Elizabeth slipped the ring over his knuckle and down to the base of his finger, she repeated, "Just as this circle is without end, my love for you is eternal. Just as it is made of incorruptible substance, my commitment to you will never fail. With this ring, I thee wed."

She looked up into Jack's face and saw his eyes were shining. "Thank you!" she whispered.

"My pleasure!" he whispered back.

"Now, then," Frank continued. "Without further ado, after years and years of tortured waiting and wondering, through all of the ups and downs… May I present to you Sergeant and Mrs. Jack Thornton!"

He seized her and kissed her, taking her breath away, before reaching for her hand and running up the aisle amidst the cheers and tears of all in attendance. Once they were out on the porch of the church, the church he had built with his own two hands because of his love for her, he clutched her again and kissed her with reckless abandon.

"We did it!" he declared happily, his forehead pressed to hers.

"We did!" she affirmed, joy written all over her face.

"It doesn't feel real," he told her.

"I know!"

"I love you, Elizabeth!"

"I love you, too!"

Everyone began pouring out of the church, eager to hug and congratulate the couple and then Jessie, taking the camera Jack used, took their picture on the front steps of their church, immortalizing forever the special place it had in their story. He then had the idea to take pictures of not only the couple, but also had Abigail, Rosemary, Lee, Bill and Frank join in.

Awhile later, in the saloon, which had been decorated to the point that it was hard to imagine its original purpose, after supper had been served and eaten, Rosemary got everyone's attention and asked Elizabeth and Jack to come forward. They looked at each other questioningly, but as she swept dramatically off to the side, she started a gramophone in the corner and the room was filled with the sounds of "When You're a Long, Long Way From Home". Jack smiled and opened his arms, into which Elizabeth gladly stepped just before he began to whirl her around the floor.

"Leave it to Rosie to find an appropriate song for us, eh?" he asked her.

"It is pretty apropos!" she agreed.

"Well, I never have to worry about leaving ever again, knowing I have you to come home to," he whispered into her hair as he held her close; closer than he would have ever dared in public before. "And I can't wait until I get back home every time."

Elizabeth blushed a bit, admonishing him with a, "Jack!"

He laughed, "Relax, Elizabeth, no one can hear me. And even if they could, we are married now; it is pretty much a given that everyone is well aware of what we will doing from here on out. Just wait until you are with child!"

Elizabeth paled slightly in his arms. "Oh, my!" she declared. "You are right!"

He chortled again and kissed her boldly on the lips for all to see. "There!" he stated gleefully. "We will give 'em a little preview!"

"Jack!" Elizabeth said as she gently slapped him the arm she was holding, but she was laughing, so he knew that she wasn't upset.

"What'd you say we get out of here soon, bella?" he whispered in her ear, causing a delightful chill to run up her spine.

"We still have to cut the cake!" she objected.

"I am sure that they can handle that themselves," he answered, his eyes twinkling at her, his dimples prevalent.

"You are incorrigible!" she decreed as he laughed and spun her around again.

"And now you are stuck with me!"

"I wouldn't want it any other way!"

"I love you, Mrs. Thornton!"

"I love you, too, Constable."

"That's Sergeant to you!" he answered with a chuckle.

"Whatever," she giggled. "You just said less than two hours ago that I don't have to obey you!" she flirted.

"Not as my wife, but if you don't respect the law, I am afraid I still will have to lock you up!" he countered, feigning disappointment.

"Sounds… intriguing!" she answered.

He closed his eyes for a few seconds and breathed deeply. "No fair, Elizabeth!" he told her.

"What's the matter, Sergeant?" she asked him. "Now, as you were just telling me, you can actually do something about all of that pent up… energy."

He groaned softly. "Are you sure we can't get out of here? Please?" he whispered, begging her.

Everyone had been watching the two of them bantering and laughing for another two minutes past the end of the song. No one could hear what they were whispering, but it was incredibly apparent that they were completely unaware of anything happening around them. Finally, when Bill cleared his throat, Jack looked up from staring into Elizabeth's face and noticed that the room was fairly silent and there were too many pairs of eyes to count watching them.

"Oops! Sorry!" he said sheepishly, as Elizabeth hid her face in his neck.

Abigail stepped forward and, in an attempt to save them further embarrassment, redirected everyone's attention to the cake. "Jack and Elizabeth, I think it is time!" and she looked at them expectantly.

"Thank you!" Elizabeth said gratefully as they moved over to the table which held the simple, yet elegant cake so lovingly made by one of their dearest friends. Single layer with white frosting, crowned with the same flowers as in Elizabeth's bouquet, it was perfection in both appearance and taste.

Jack took the knife and handed it to his new bride and then moved directly behind her. Elizabeth made room for him to also grasp the handle and he said over her shoulder. "On the count of three?"

She nodded and he began to softly count. At three, the knife slide effortlessly down to the serving plate underneath and both breathed a sigh of relief. When their piece was out, she put it on the plate that Abigail handed her and then cut the piece in half. They stood facing each other, both of them looking a little wary of the other.

"Please, Jack, play nicely!" she begged him.

"Oh, I will. Just remember, Elizabeth, I am wearing my uniform."

They carefully fed each other a bite, amidst the cheers of their acquired family for good luck, prosperity and a home full of children. When they looked at one another, Jack bent down and gave her a scorching kiss, and she could still taste the frosting on his lips.

"Yum!" she said with a laugh as they pulled apart.

"Plenty more where that came from," he answered her mischievously.

"You mean we are taking the cake home?" she asked in mock innocence.

"If that's what it takes to get you to kiss me like that, you bet!" he countered.

She leaned in and whispered in his ear, "In all honesty, I can't wait to get home and taste you some more, with or without cake!" She pulled back and winked and he pulled her close.

"I think it is time we say goodnight," he told her, his voice husky and his eyes dark.

"I couldn't agree more!" she concurred.

It still took almost an hour to extract themselves from all of the well-wishers and students. Ned read aloud three telegrams; one from Jack's mom, one from Elizabeth's parents and one from Julie and Tom, all expressing their disappointment to not be in attendance, but wishing them all the best. Then came the toasts.

As Bill spoke, Jack leaned over and whispered, "And to think it all started right here, in this room!"

Elizabeth looked around the space and smiled gently. "My favorite saloon in the whole world!"

As they finally were able to make it towards the door, everyone filled in around them, wishing them good luck peppered with insinuations. Elizabeth and Jack's cheeks were red as he helped her with her shawl and they turned back one more time to wave good night.

As soon as Elizabeth's foot touched the sidewalk, she heard Rosemary's voice ring out above the din, "Remember, Elizabeth, don't ruin my dress!"

Jack turned back, laughing, as he began pulling the door shut behind them and said, "Goodnight, Rosie!"

Rosemary, thinking of one final thing to say, yelled out loudly, so that no one could miss it, "Oh! And remember, too, that those walls are paper thin!"


	13. Chapter 13

** So sorry, everyone. I had surgery on June 29th and had to prepare for it and then recovery from it somewhat before continuing. I am so happy you are all enjoying this story and I truly appreciate all of the incredible feedback!

**NOW- This chapter is their wedding night, so proceed at your own risk. It is not terribly risqué, but it is fairly descriptive and therefore, if I could rate one chapter as "M" without having to do so for the whole story, this chapter would be it.

So, considered yourselves informed and if you chose to go on a read, you know that you made the conscious and informed decision to read adult content. If not, then just skip! Thanks!**

Chapter 13

For all her flirting and innuendo at the reception, when she and Jack were finally alone, walking back to the row house, hand in hand, Elizabeth was getting more and more nervous.

She knew from all the pieces and parts of information she had gathered from many different sources what was supposed to happen; yet she still couldn't visualize it. Or, worse, she could and she was worried that she would laugh. The male physique seemed so foreign and odd that she was worried that she would start to giggle and not be able to stop. She figured that even Jack, as understanding as he was, would be none too pleased if that happened.

Jack could sense her growing anxiety. He squeezed her hand and when she looked up at him, he gave her what he could only hope was a reassuring smile. The truth was that he was nervous, too. Even though he had a better sense of what to do and what would happen based on previous experience and the fact that men in large groups are generally considerably cruder than women, he still was nervous, mostly that he would somehow hurt her and make it an awful experience for her.

That had been the only advice he had gotten from Lee. He was worried about how awkward any conversation with him on the subject would be, but Lee had only pulled him aside and reminded him to breathe and go slowly, not only for his own benefit, but for Elizabeth's as well. Jack had only nodded, his nerves instantly rearing their ugly head, and Lee had further reiterated that Elizabeth's experience that night could potentially set the tone for their physical relationship for the rest of their marriage. He had then clapped Jack on the shoulder and smiled, saying, "But no pressure or anything!"

They seemed to slow down as they got closer to the row house. Neither one of them could tell which on of them was setting the pace, or if they both had just slowed down together. By the time they were walking over the gravel road before the row of buildings, it felt like they weren't going faster than one mile per hour; yet, Elizabeth felt it was still too quickly. Her thoughts were in a jumble of desire and fear. Part of her couldn't wait to get him alone to get over the unknown, while the other half was so terrified, she was tempted to tell him never mind and go home. Except… Home was where they were going. He was moving in with her, his few bags containing his clothes and sparse collection of belongings not needed at the jail were already there, and she had no other place where to escape.

They stopped when the got to the base of the stairs and Jack thought back to the night he had come home. He found it strange that when they had some sort of imaginary boundary which they knew they shouldn't cross, neither of them cared. They wanted what they wanted and it had seemed exciting to let go of every social expectation and give into temptation. Only now, when they had nothing stopping them, was when it felt like they were doing something wrong. Still, he turned to her and without a word, he swept her up into his arms and mounted the stairs.

In her surprise, she let out a little squeak when he lifted her up. But, as she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her head in his shoulder, she inhaled his familiar scent and her desire hit her full bore, like a gun shot. She began kissing his ear and moving down to his collar and he moaned involuntarily. Once he got her through the door, he kicked it shut behind him with gusto and delved into her soft lips, never putting her down.

She realized halfway up the stairs that he was not stopping. She held her breath as he carried her into the bedroom before he gently lowered her legs to the floor and grabbed her face in between his two large hands.

"I love you!" he whispered with such feeling he surprised even himself. He held her gaze as he leaned into her until the last possible second as his lips met hers. She gasped and he took full advantage, sliding his tongue in along side hers, marveling in no matter how close they were, it still wasn't enough. He wanted to fuse himself to her: His body was screaming at him to join them, to become one with her, in every way humanly possible all at once.

Eventually, she came up for air. She was fully matching his intensity, but after a few minutes, she began to feel as if it wasn't enough and she wanted more. Her body was in charge and she was feeling compelled to pull away only so that she could shed any boundaries between her skin and his. She longed to feel him against her in a way she had never dared even dream of before. She wanted his roughness next to her softness and the physical drive to combine the two was so primal, she couldn't even put the thoughts into words, just action.

Elizabeth lunged forward to his belt and began to unbuckle it with all the determination of Harry Houdini. Her mouth set, her tongue just barely sticking out over her top lip in extreme concentration, he would have chuckled at her if it wasn't so incredibly provocative. Eventually, she looked up at him with frustration.

"How can you wear this thing every day? It is not the easiest thing to take off!"

This made him laugh as he reached down and removed it all. "It isn't that difficult, Elizabeth. At least my holster and weapon aren't on it; that makes it heavy and unbalanced."

"Well, I appreciate the fact that you didn't wear your gun to our wedding!" she retorted.

"I didn't think there was a huge risk of outlaws at the church," he responded with a smirk.

"Though you are a Thatcher…," he added as an afterthought.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she countered, hands on her hips, scary teacher face present.

"I mean that you Thatcher girls manage to find trouble in all kinds of interesting places!"

She looked up at him through her eyelashes, running her finger seductively down the buttons on his uniform. "I guess it is a good thing, then, that I am now a Thornton," she whispered and his heart started pounding.

"Good thing," he answered solemnly, a triumphant smile threatening to break out on his lips.

She said nothing as she began to unfasten each button in a line down his jacket. She was just on the first layer and it was already better than anything he had ever imagined. She had even done it several times before: He remembered vaguely that the first time had been when she helped his mother and Faith undress and redress him every now and then when he was recovering from his fall and subsequent illness. But, that was then, and this was now, and now he wasn't sick or feeling weak. In fact, he had never felt stronger in his entire life with how much blood was coursing through his veins. He felt invincible.

When she got all his button removed, she gently shoved his jacket onto the floor. He shot her a look of mock annoyance as he bent down to pick it up and throw it on a chair.

"Now, Mrs. Thornton," he said, rolling the words around in his mouth for the first time and liking how it felt to say them. "Is that any way to treat an officer's uniform?"

"Oh," she said flippantly. "I expect that it will be on the floor more often than not whenever you get home, Constable!"

"Is that so?" he asked her provocatively.

"Oh, yes! In fact, I think that you need to just count on that your whole uniform will always be in a puddle wherever you stop the minute you walk through the door," she countered flirtatiously.

"Is that a promise?" he asked her huskily, his eyes darkening.

She didn't answer him; she only instead pushed his suspenders down his arms, and he laughed as he instinctively reached to hold his pants up with one hand.

"Whoa! Elizabeth!" he told her. "I hope you are prepared for what comes next if I drop these."

He had called her bluff he knew when her cheeks reddened. He thought that she would slow down a bit, but instead, she just began working on the buttons of his shirt. "Well, then, I suggest you just hold on tight, Sergeant!" she told him.

He was surprised by how uninhibited she seemed. He thought that she would, once their coupling was imminent, lose steam and become more reserved, but he was thrilled that it wasn't the case. In fact, it fueled his ego, not to mention his desire, considerably. What he didn't know was that Elizabeth was thinking that she needed to keep going or she wouldn't be able to continue, because she would be petrified with fear and apprehension. As with everything else new and different in her life, she knew she had to just act, not analyze.

He watched her as she slowly opened each button and then would run her fingers over the newly exposed part of his torso and then her lips would soon follow. He swallowed a moan deep in his throat and she looked up at him from under her heavily-lidded eyes and he almost lost himself right there. He took several deep gulps of air and tried to calm himself, but her warm, soft lips on his body was quickly becoming too much for him.

He had thought that he would be the one to undress her. He had imagined that he would be the one worshiping her body as he unwrapped her like a gift. Her turning the tables on him unnerved him; yet it was also incredibly erotic. He began to wonder and consider if perhaps she really was looking forward to being with him with as much intensity and yearning as he had been feeling with her. It certainly went against everything he had heard about society women: That they were cold and frigid. In fact, some of the more senior officers up north had commented to him about how he didn't want to settle down with a rich girl. "If you insist on marrying, marry a country girl who you can roll around with in the hay, son; not some uptight princess who will let you touch her once a year, if you are lucky!" they had all told him.

He hadn't believed that Elizabeth would be like that; she was too passionate. At least that is what he told himself. But, still, he did expect, based on her upbringing, some sort of hesitation and shyness, at least at first. This, however, was oh so much better! To feel that she wanted him, too, made him feel more longing and lust for her than he had ever thought possible.

When Elizabeth finally reached the bottom of his shirt that disappeared into his pants, she said, "Uh oh!" and smiled mischievously up at him. Like he was being driven by an unseen hand, he loosened his grip a bit and she pulled out his shirt tails. She made quick work of those buttons and suddenly, he was standing before her in his undershirt, his top shirt open, his sweaty hand still gripping his pants like he was hanging from a cliff and they were his lifeline.

When she eased his shirt down his shoulders on its way to the floor, he knew he would have to let go of his pants and he only hoped he would be quick enough or that they were tight enough that they wouldn't fall. Thankfully, the fates were with him and because of certain developments, the fit around his hips was tight enough to keep them on his body.

This gave him considerably more confidence and he turned his attention to her. He reached out with both hands and ran them down her arms until he caught her hands in his. "Hi," he breathed out, relaxing now that he felt like he had some better control.

"Hi!" she whispered back, her eyes wide and dark.

He bent forward to kiss her and pulled her tight into him. God, how he loved her. He couldn't even fathom it was possible for a human to feel so much love at one time. He felt as if he was going to combust with desire and hunger. He wanted to show her how much she meant to him when he felt words were not adequate.

When he finally pulled up, grasped her upper arms in his hands and put his forehead on her. "I want you!" he whispered.

He moved his hands around to her back and began to try to feel his way around the tiny buttons running down the bodice of the dress. They were too small for his man's fingers to manage easily. He heard Rosie's warning about not ruining her dress echoing in the back of his mind. At the time, he had thought her ridiculous to even mention it. What could they possibly do to ruin a dress? But now he knew! Now, if Rosie's admonition wasn't fresh in his thoughts, he was of a mind to take the two sides together in his hands and simply pull them apart.

He forced himself to slow down and breathe, trying to convince himself that each miniscule button just prolonged his sweet agony. But, waiting brought problems, too. He worried that one action between them could cause all to be lost, at least for awhile. He was so incredibly ready; he was so ready he was beginning to hurt, and one passion-filled caress too many could very easily become his undoing.

Jack sighed when he realized that he couldn't keep kissing her while taking off her dress when he couldn't see what he was doing, so he gently turned her away from him and tried to ignore the small whimper she let out at the loss of his lips on hers. It was much better and he was faster once he could visualize each button, and after he got the hang of the first few, he became confident enough to not have to focus as much at the one task and began to instead kiss her shoulders and neck as his fingers made quick work of the fastenings.

Elizabeth was in heaven. The feel of his tender kisses on her neck were going to be her undoing. She had desired him before, but nothing like this. Her legs felt shaky and she felt a strange longing deep within her that felt like nothing she had ever thought possible.

She felt when he reached the last button and looked over her shoulder at him, seductively, while clutching her dress to her chest, the back gaping open down to her waist. He gently ran his hands inside and down her arms, dragging the sleeves away as he did. When they made it to her elbows, he noticed that her grip had intensified. He gently squeezed her in his arms as he bent down to whisper, "Sweetheart, it is all right. Just let go. I promise I won't hurt you."

"I know," she whispered back, but she kept her arms tightly clenched against her torso.

He moved to her front and slowly peeled each arm back, taking her hands in his and intertwining his fingers in hers. The dress slipped down until the upper part of her corset was fully visible, but he never glanced down; he held her gaze and whispered, "Elizabeth, I love you. We will do this as fast or as slowly as you want, all right?"

"I know," she said again, her eyes filling with tears.

"Hey! Hey, sweetheart… Why are you crying?"

"I don't know," she said, sniffling. "I guess… I guess because I have wanted this… wanted you… for so incredibly long. I can't believe it is finally happening."

He pulled her to him and petted her hair as her head rested on his chest. "I love you, Elizabeth. More than I ever thought I could love anything else in this world."

"I know," she uttered yet again. Then she pulled back and took her sleeves the rest of the way down her arms, her undergarments exposed to her waist, her bosom pushed enticingly up. He tried not to, but eventually he broke down and sneaked what he hoped was a quick peak; he was a hot-blooded young man, after all, but the gasp of appreciation gave him away and when she caught his eyes again, he blushed deeply.

She smiled tenderly at him, "It's all right, Jack. I want you to look!"

He sheepishly smiled back, dimples showing. He took hold of the dress and began to pull it down further over her hips and then held her hand as she stepped out of it. Suddenly, there she was, in only her underclothing, and he shuddered with longing. But, this time, she moved to him and took the bottom of his undershirt in her hands and pushed. She ran her hands up his body as long as she could until he had to take over, his gaze never leaving hers. While he removed the shirt over his arms and dropped it to the floor beside him, she ran her hands up and down his chiseled muscles, appreciating the physical effort in the development in each one. Her mind flashed back to when she had first seen him chopping wood and her cheeks flushed as she realized that even then, when she couldn't see through his clothing, she still had known that he was a fine specimen of a man.

Jack ran his hands around her waist, feeling the cool silkiness of the corset's material and the boning within. He turned his attention first to her petticoat and untied the knot, then gather the material in his hands and pushed it down like her dress, helping her step out of it and then throwing it to the side. He then turned his attention back to her corset, his fingers working his way under the edges of the cups and then his fingers inadvertently slid over her nipples, causing them to bud up instantly. Again, he caught her eye and gave her a naughty school boy grin before he tried to grasp each side of the top clasp and push them together, but they wouldn't budge. When he looked up at her questioningly, she whispered, "You have to loosen the stays first!" and he nodded his understanding, his cheeks flaming with embarrassment that he didn't quite know his way around a corset, but Elizabeth found it both endearing and reassuring.

She turned away from him and he got to work, loosening the bow and then each string, as Elizabeth reached back with one hand and fingered the hair at the back of his neck. Once he had worked his way down, Elizabeth let out a refreshed sigh, grateful for the opportunity to expand her lungs a bit more. She turned back around to face him and reached herself to remove the first clasp, then the second and so on, all under Jack's intense gaze. He felt like his blood was going to boil at any second. He watched himself raise his hands and gently push hers to the sides and took over, his features now showing the concentration hers had demonstrated several minutes earlier. Soon, he reached the bottom and he removed it from around her and tossed it onto the chair next to his red serge.

She stood before him in a state of utmost arousal and embarrassment. She had never been so fully exposed to a man in her entire life. While she still wore her chemise and bloomers, the material of the chemise was so finely spun that is was almost transparent and once again, Jack was reminded of her privileged upbringing that afforded such an incredibly delicate undergarment. As she was backlit by the lantern on the bedside table he could see the outline of her form through the material and he quickly sucked in his breath, seeing that her soft curves were even more beautiful than he had imagined.

"Oh, Lord!" he uttered, shaking his head.

"What's wrong?" Elizabeth asked quietly, looking concerned, her cheeks flaming.

"Nothing! Oh, Lord, Elizabeth, nothing at all. You are just so incredible beautiful. It's like you aren't even of this world. I can't… I can't wait to touch you."

She reached for him and he felt himself shuffle to her like she was magnetic. His hands spanned around her waist and spread over her sides, his heart beating its way out of his chest. She looked up at him and he instinctively moved his hand to her breast and cupped it in his hand. Through the material, he could see breasts almost as clearly as if she was naked, only muted. The dusky nubs of her breast showed him that she was as aroused as he felt and it made him feel like he could fly. Without asking, he dipped down and covered her with his mouth, wetting the fabric, and then everything was as clearly visible as if she was naked. She looked down as he pulled away, fascinated with what he saw and gasped.

"Jack!" she exclaimed.

"I'm sorry! Was that not all right?"

"No…," she answered hesitantly. "I guess it is fine."

Then she thought back to his hot mouth on her skin and shuddered. She wanted more and it surprised her with the intensity which that realization hit her. "Wait… It is more than fine. Oh, Jack, do it again! Please?"

He didn't need to be asked twice. He bent over again, nipping and sucking at her flesh on the other side until she felt her knees were going to give way, only his one hand on a globe of her bottom pulling her to him, holding her in place. He felt like a kid with a dollar to burn in front of the candy jars at the mercantile on a Saturday morning. Her body was as tempting and delicious as any confection ever made. Vaguely, in the deep depths of his mind, he recalled the few times when his father had come back after being gone for months on assignment and he had done exactly that: Given him and Tom each a dollar and told them they could buy anything they wanted, as long as they didn't tell their ma. Just like then, with endless possibilities in front of him, he was overwhelmed with wanting everything all at once and for the first time, being able to have it.

After a few minutes, he felt her fiddling awkwardly with the closure of his pants. His instinct was to stop and grab her hands, but she just looked archly at him, then at her chest, and he got the point. He chuckled softly and bent down to kiss her, hoping it would stem the building panic within him at the thought of being exposed; no tight, stiff layer of cloth as protection. He felt when the buttons came apart and shivered at the shock of the cooler air in the room hitting his very hot and inflamed groin. He then felt her thumbs work their way around the waistband and pulled gently, his pants landing in a puddle around his feet. Without breaking their kiss, he stepped out of them and kicked them off his foot and across the room.

Elizabeth stepped back unconsciously once the pants came down. She couldn't help it; she was curious. She looked down at his drawers and stared for what felt like a minute, turning her head slightly in her investigation. He felt vulnerable; the only clothing left on his body being his thin cotton drawers, held on only by a string.

She was fascinated by the bulging beneath the thin cotton. Based on their experience the other night, she knew by touch what was contained therein, but it was quite another thing to see it. He was so incredibly ready that he was almost standing straight up, flush against his own abdomen, even without any added support. There was no denying that he wanted her and badly.

Elizabeth still wasn't talking and it was making his nervous: She only stood in front of him, biting her lower lip. What was she thinking? Was she scared? Was he what she thought he would be? Too big? Too small? Too terrifying? Too anything? Not enough?

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. "Sweetheart, are you all right?" he asked tentatively.

"Fine," she answered pensively.

"Then… what is it?" he asked her.

"You are interesting."

"Interesting?"

"Yes."

More silence.

"Interesting bad or interesting good?" he asked her with a nervous chuckle.

"Just intriguing."

"Oh."

He decided to give it back. "You are probably pretty intriguing, too."

"You think so?"

"I know so," he said, looking pointedly at her chest. "In fact, I think I need to investigate further."

"Do you now?" she asked with a smile.

"Absolutely. It is my job to investigate details. I need to get to the bottom of anything different or out of the ordinary and you, my darling wife, are both."

Elizabeth felt his hands start to tug on her chemise as he grasped, then bunched, the hem in his hands. "So, this is Mountie business, then, is it?" she asked seriously, holding his gaze.

"It is this Mountie's business, for sure!" he confirmed, as he lifted the chemise even higher. He was happy they were flirting again. Being playful took the pressure off.

Elizabeth felt the chemise go over her head and then it got caught on her hair which was pinned up on her head. She raised her arms instinctively to help him free her hair from her garment and soon she noticed that he had dropped his hands and was openly staring at the view that her uplifted arms afforded him, his face open with wonder.

"Wow!" he whispered as she freed her hair and it cascaded down her back.

"How's your investigation going, Sergeant?" she asked him coyly as she shook out her hair.

"Elizabeth…," he blurted. "You are perfection!'

"Thank you!" she whispered.

He reached out and cupped her with both hands and began to gently massage her flesh. He was marveling at how each breast was just enough to fill each hand, like the heavens had designed her specifically to be his wife. He bent again and took her into his mouth and while she had thought it felt amazing before, without any barrier of clothing, she gasped with pleasure, her knees buckling. He stopped and grinned at her, smug with what he had done apparent on his face.

"Good?" he whispered to her.

"So good," she affirmed as she stretched up to kiss him, taking his bottom lip between hers and giving it a good, hard tug before she boldly slipped her tongue in beside his.

Elizabeth had never felt like this before. Through all of their kissing and snuggling, even the night they had shared in her bed, she had never lost conscious thought to the point where she could collapse. Her body was screaming at her to finally have him, though she still didn't know what all that entailed, but suddenly the thought of not experiencing making love to him was one hundred times more frightening than the unknown. The need to lie down and pull him on top of her was so primal it most scared her. She was used to being determined and in control and to relinquish it to someone else was the ultimate in trust. But, she did have confidence in him and she knew that he would never do anything to intentionally hurt her, so she reached out and pulled the knot holding his drawers in place and heard them as they slid to the floor.

Then she shimmied up to him again and could feel him, the same skin, hot and delicate from the other night, against her abdomen, but she still wouldn't break the kiss and look down. Instead, she pulled him with her towards the bed, both of them collapsing on top of it as their knees hit the edge of the mattress.

Finally, he pulled back and looked at her. Her eyes still holding his, she felt him reach for her hand and guide it to him. She gripped at him the same way she had done the other night, and he moaned, so low and deep, it startled her.

"Lord, Elizabeth, I need you! Please!" he begged her earnestly and she felt his words down deep in her belly in a place she never knew conversation could reach. She hid her face in his chest, but nodded, before answering, "All right."

His fingers were tangled in the string of her pantaloons and she felt him gently untie them and then sit up to slip them over her legs. She stayed frozen in place, her eyes screwed shut, not knowing what to expect next. It felt like several minutes of him not doing anything before she opened one eye cautiously and caught him openly staring at her, his expression between elation and amazement.

When he saw her looking at him, he started to speak. "Elizabeth, may I...," he stopped to clear his throat. "May I touch you?"

"Yes," she answered him and then she felt his large hands traveling up her legs until he got to her thighs, when he then pushed them gently apart a bit before continuing on his journey. His voice cut through the sound of her blood rushing through her ears.

"Very intriguing indeed!" he said quietly.

"You are perfection!" he whispered again for the second time that night.

He lay back down beside her and gently ran his fingers over her abdomen and then lower. She jumped a little when his fingers traveled to the place never before touched. At first, she was shocked, but the longer he was there, his exploration getting bolder and more exact, she began to instead feel a longing that she hadn't even known was possible.

"Oh, Jack… Please, Jack…"

"What?" he asked her, concerned.

"Just please!" she begged him, shocked that she would ever plead with a man to do anything as intimate as this. Suddenly, all questions about what would happen were gone and she knew exactly where she needed him.

Hearing Elizabeth Thatcher begging for him was almost his undoing. He wasn't exactly sure for what she was asking for specifically, but based on how she was responding to his touch, it wasn't too much of a jump to assume that she was asking for what would come next and the idea that she would plead with him for it was beyond any scope of imagination he had ever dared to envision.

Jack nodded solemnly, as if he had just been asked to take another tour up north. He had a duty to fulfill and far would it be for him to deny her! He kissed her again as he rolled over onto her. He was running an inner dialog the whole time, trying to talk himself down, because he was so raw, so close, that he wasn't sure he would even be able to make it much longer. Already, he could feel his body pulse and tense with pent up release. But, he felt her tense both her thighs and abdomen as he came closer to his mark, allowing him to focus on something else for a minute and in doing so, gain back the upper hand over his own body.

"Sweetheart," he breathed into her ear, as he stroked her hair back. "Just try to relax. It will make it easier and I promise I will do everything I can not to hurt you!"

He felt her nod into his shoulder.

"But you can't tense up, sweetheart. Just keep trying to breathe and relax."

She nodded again. He found her mouth and kissed her senseless, all the while pressing forward. He felt her flinch underneath him and heard her make a small whimper in her throat, even though her kisses did not stop, but he stopped where he was and continued kissing and caressing her, using every ounce of self-control he possessed to stay still, whispering how much he adored her into her ear until he felt her begin to relax somewhat beneath him.

As she lay under him, while kissing him, many thoughts were running incoherently through her mind. He had been correct; he was doing everything he could to make this experience as comfortable as possible for her. She could feel the love he had for her flowing through to her and it made her feel safe and cherished, even though she was a bit uncomfortable.

It was so strange to have a man on top of her. She thought that it felt as though she couldn't breathe but also that she didn't care. There had been some sharp pain in the beginning, but he had stopped moving and held still, allowing her time to adjust to the new sensations in her body and then when he began moving again, the pain had subsided significantly.

The feeling was strange. It wasn't pleasant, per se, but at the same time, it felt right. Though she wasn't finding the experience pleasurable, she did enjoy the feeling as close to him as she ever had been before and that they were sharing in something so intimate. She loved hearing his low, primal noises in her ear; the ones that were so involuntary, brought on by the pleasure he was experiencing, that he wasn't even aware he was making them.

Jack knew he wasn't going to last long and was frankly amazed he had made it that far. He tried to pace himself for no other reason than that he didn't want to make her uncomfortable. But, after awhile, his base self took over and all he could focus on was the building pressure, striving for release.

He began to say her name over and over with "I love you!" mixed in, which she found to be wildly provocative and erotic, and finally, after one final push, followed by what seemed to be his being frozen in place for several seconds, he collapsed on her, spent and incredibly satisfied. It was like nothing he had ever experienced before.

Nothing could have prepared her for the overwhelming love and tenderness that washed over her as she stroked his head that lay on her bare chest, his breathing still coming fast, the rapid beat of his heart pounding so hard she could feel it. She bent up to kiss the top of his head and he whispered, "God, Elizabeth, I love you so much! I didn't know it was possible to feel this much love!"

She smiled. "I love you, too, Jack!"

After several moments, he rolled off her onto his back, his arm bent over his eyes, his expression one of complete gratification and fulfillment. When he began to think coherently again, he rolled up on his side and propped his head on his hand.

"Are you all right?" he asked her.

"I am fine," she assured him.

"I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"Not too badly," she responded.

He reached out with his hand and brushed her hair back off her face before lying back and gently taking her with him, her head resting in the crook of his shoulder. "I am so sorry, sweetheart."

"It's all right, Jack. I know you were being as gentle as you could be."

He nodded at her, his expression somewhat pained. "I wish it wouldn't have hurt you at all," he said sadly.

His expression broke her heart. "Jack, I enjoyed it," she offered bashfully up to him.

"Really?" he asked, a small smile then grew to a large one.

"I did!" she confirmed. "I loved being that close to you. I loved how you… how you loved me," she added shyly, not full able to explain what she meant.

"I have never wanted anything as much as I wanted to make love to you, Elizabeth."

"So you liked it, then?" she asked and then giggled at his expression.

"It was truly the most wonderful thing I have ever done in my life. Now that we have done it, I have no idea how we managed to wait four years for it. But, it was worth every second of longing to finally experience it with you." He pulled her in tighter into his chest.

Elizabeth, unable to see his face in her current position, felt markedly braver. "I can't wait to try it again," she admitted, burying her face into his chest with embarrassment that she was so incredibly physically stimulated at the thought that she was the only one who got to experience him at his most vulnerable. Everyone else would only see him as the strong, dutiful, in charge law enforcement official, but she got to have him when he let go and allowed his impulses take over. He wasn't helpless, as he was when he had been so sick, but rather she was the only one in the world he trusted to consciously let down his guard with completely and show both his physical and emotional weaknesses and his expose his desires. She found the whole idea that she would be the only one in town to see him this way, the only one to smell, taste, hear and feel him intimately forever more, and it gave her an immense thrill that she felt deep within her in a spot that, until just a few minutes ago, she had never understood before. He had given her a piece of himself that no one else would ever know. Yes, he had been with Rosie…sort of; but even without his saying so, she knew what they had just done carried with it way more intimacy than what he had experienced before. That had been about the act, while what they had just done was truly about sharing themselves with the other on a whole other emotional plane.

This made him laugh with elation. He took her chin in his fingers and raised her head until she was looking into his eyes. "Really?" he asked her, searching her expression for the truth in it, and when he saw she was not lying, his heart swelled with love and pride.

"Me, either!" he told her, a slight blush rising on his cheeks.

Jack reached down and pulled the quilt over them as they lay entangled in each other's arms, each one stretching to kiss the other every once in awhile until sleep began to overtake them. The last thing Elizabeth remembered, her naked body half lying on his, her thigh between his legs, their arms wrapped around each other was his mumbling sleepily to her, "Elizabeth, this was the best day of my life."


	14. Chapter 14

**This chapter is also pretty intense, understandably so since they just got married. So, once again, read at your own comfort level, knowing that this chapter also has adult content and quite a lot of it.

**In other, totally unrelated news, I just have to share that I have been awarded a contract for my first book from a publisher! It came as quite a shock and I am beyond thrilled! Thanks for the ongoing support for my story here; I appreciate it.

Chapter 14

Jack opened his eyes and looked around the dark room. The light of the moon shone through the gauzy curtains, the sky in the east lightening with the coming dawn. Something felt different and it took a second for him to become cognizant enough to realize where he was and who he was with. The sound of someone breathing beside him was nothing new; he had grown accustom to the sounds of his men in their makeshift barracks up north. But, the warm, naked, silky body wrapped around him was certainly a new experience and one that he was in no hurry to disturb.

He lay under her, his arm tightening around her, as he thought back to the night before. Never in his dreams had he imagined just how incredible their coming together would be. He had fantasized and speculated, but there were no words in the world to describe the utter sublimity of being engulfed by her warm folds, her body as close to his as humanly possible, her warm breath on his neck, her complete and utter relinquishment to him in an ultimate display of trust. He felt his eyes tear as he thought to how much she must love him to allow him to take her like he had; how frightened she must have been of the unknown, yet she had still been a willing and encouraging participant.

He thought back to when Bill had told him what his father had said about his homecomings and not only did Jack understand what he meant, he also didn't know how he would ever bear the thought of leaving her and their home again. His chest hurt when he thought about the next morning when he would rise at dawn and dress, ready to go out on his rounds again, knowing all the while what was at home for him when he came back. The only saving grace was that Elizabeth would be returning to school, so he knew that at least she wouldn't be home in bed. For some reason, whenever he envisioned leaving her, the picture that came to his mind was one of her sitting on their bed, naked, the bedding tangled around her, her hair flowing freely around her face and down her back and it wasn't any wonder that he was already worried about how he would ever drag himself away from that image now being his reality.

When he bent down to give her a kiss on the top of her head, Elizabeth sighed softly and shifted position. He held perfectly still, never intending to wake her, but she opened her eyes and smiled softly at him.

"Good morning Bella!" he whispered to her, pulling her closer to him.

"Good morning," she said softly, stretching slightly, making her body taut against his and making him groan involuntarily.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "I'm so sorry! Did I hurt you?"

"No, sweetheart. You just feel amazing her in my arms."

She smiled at him. "How did you sleep?"

"Like a baby," he told her. "You?"

"You don't kick as much as Julie!"

"Well, that's a plus, I guess!"

He bent down to kiss her once again. "I need to get up and stoke the fire," he told her.

She moaned at him, the sound traveling straight to his loins. "Don't leave!" she replied, snuggling closer.

"It's cold in here!"

"Not here!" she argued.

"No, definitely not here. But, it is in the house. I don't want you to get chilled, Bella!"

Elizabeth hadn't thought about that aspect of being married before. She was used to getting up in the morning's biting cold and stoking the fire herself, along with a million other things in running a household that could easily be conceived of as a "man's job". The thought that Jack was willing and able to do it made her feel giddy, but, she still wasn't ready to relinquish her hold on him just yet.

"Jack, thank you for wanting to do that for me. You don't have to, though. I am used to it!"

"Consider it a perk of being married."

"Oh, yeah? What perk do you get then? I not all that great at cooking, sewing or anything else."

"Oh, I have the best perk of all, don't you fret! I get to have you in my bed, naked, for the rest of my life. I would stoke a million fires for that!"

"But, I get you naked in bed, too!"

"I don't know if you should call that a perk exactly," he laughed.

"I would!"

He looked at her, surprised. He wasn't sure how she would be feeling in the morning both physically or emotionally. She had told him last night that she had enjoyed it, but he still wasn't convinced that she wasn't just saying that because she thought it was what he would want to hear. His last experience culminated with him being dumped the next day, so his confidence was not high that she wouldn't awaken to the full impact of what had transpired and find it all to have been an awful mistake. The fact that Elizabeth Thatcher wanted him was still so inconceivable that he couldn't yet let himself believe it.

"If you won't let me go stoke the fire, what do you suggest we do?" he asked her playfully.

"I never said that you couldn't stoke my fire!" she told him pointedly.

He laughed and grabbed her tight into his body. "How are you feeling, Bella?" he asked her, his voice serious and full of concern.

"I am great, Jack!"

"No, honestly, Elizabeth. How are you? Are you…," he blushed brightly as he thought about how to put such a delicate matter into words. No matter how much masculine discussion about intimate relations he had heard in his life, no man had ever talked about how to discuss with a woman such sensitive topics the next morning. He cleared his throat before continuing, "Are you sore?"

She shook her head against him, suddenly feeling shy.

"Are you sure?"

"I am sure, Jack."

"Really? Because I don't want you to just tell me what you think I want to hear!" he told her, looking at her so intensively, she felt like she was being interrogated.

Elizabeth knew then that she wasn't going to be able to convince him with words. Instead, she stretched up and began to kiss his neck. He moaned as he succumbed to her warm lips, turning his head slightly away from her in order to give her better access. She took her finger and pushed his face towards her, her lips resting on his, kissing him with gusto.

Before he knew what was happening, she had clamored on top of him and sat straddled over his thighs. The sky was significantly lighter by this point, and the view he was afforded by her was magnificent. Her creamy sky seemed almost iridescent in the pinky glow of the soon-rising sun. He felt his desire, already close to the surface, bubble up to almost overflowing, but he was in no hurry to quench his lust. Instead, he leaned back with a smile, placing both hands behind his head, determined to enjoy the view before him.

Taking her first finger, she ran it down his chest as far as she could, smiling mischievously at him.

"What are you grinning at, Bella?"

"You!"

"What about me?"

"Well," she said, shifting her eyes downward, "it isn't too hard to tell what you are thinking about, Sargent."

"Do you blame me?" he asked her. "I have been waiting a long time for you, Elizabeth."

"Oh, so it is my fault it took so long for us to get married, is it?" she asked him with mock indignancy.

"Nope. Not at all. It was mine completely. But, duty called…"

"I know. But, I am glad you are home now!"

"Me, too. In fact," he said with all seriousness, "I am really wondering how I will ever leave this bed again."

"Oh, I see how you are!" she laughed at him, poking him in his belly, making him jump. "You only married me for my bed!"

"Especially the soft pillows," he said, looking directly at her chest, causing her to laugh.

"You certainly are sassy this morning, Sargent."

"I come by it naturally. I believe you have met my mother?"

A look of seriousness settled over his features as he reached out and placed his warm hands on her thighs. "In all honesty, Elizabeth, I don't think I have ever been as happy as I have felt since our wedding last night." He reached up and pulled her down, so that she was lying flat against him, his lips seeking hers, her soft and supple body feeling heavenly in his arms. However, Elizabeth took full advantage of her position on top of him to tease him with light and gentle kisses, resisting him every time he tried to pull her into a deeper clinch. He groaned in frustration, his need growing and after a few minutes, he surprised her by flipping her over so that he was looming over her.

"Temptress," he chastised playfully as he began to do the same to her.

He covered her face with soft kisses, starting with her lips and moving to her temples, eyes, and cheeks before moving lower to her neck, and shoulders, then continued working his way down to her chest. Last night, they had made love by lantern light, but today, the daylight cast her in another perspective completely. He had thought her beautiful before, but this morning, her body was no longer contrasted with flickering shadows and muted tones. Once again, he was overcome with the realization that this was now his reality for the rest of his life and he still couldn't believe his good fortune.

As they kissed and fondled one another, their need growing, he finally gave into his desire once he felt her wriggling beneath him with want. Still not believing her completely that she was not sore from their escapades the night before, he proceeded with extreme care and with every sunken inch, Elizabeth became even more wanton.

Their first time had been filled with a sense of awkwardness; neither knowing fully what to expect and therefore, were unable to fully relax. This time, however, became about wonder and joy as they moved as one, truly feeling the sensations of their coming together before building up to the ending they both knew was coming. With their final strokes, the sun's rays broke through the curtains, casting a golden glow upon them as if God Himself was blessing their union.

Jack stayed put on Elizabeth until his heartrate steadied, as she lazily caressed his shoulder. Still not pleasurable, she was able to better discern the different sensations happening in her body with less sensory overload and she was beginning to understand how things might just get better and better as they learned more about the other.

Rolling off to the side, Jack gathered Elizabeth in his arms, and pulled her close. Her head rested on his chest, her arm wrapped around him, her leg raised up over his thigh to come to rest between his legs. They lay together in silence for several minutes, neither of them exactly sure of what to say or do. Last night had been easier: they were both exhausted from the day and sleep was the next logical progression to complete their day. But, now, the sun was shining and they had a whole day stretched out before them. Still shy with one another, neither of them knew what to say to start conversation.

Eventually, Elizabeth worked up the courage to ask, "What should we do today?"

She felt his chuckle deep down in his chest more than heard it. "What?" she asked him indignantly.

"Nothing! I was just thinking that I would be perfectly content spending the day with you right here in bed."

"We can't do that all day!" she answered him, shocked.

"Just lying here, Elizabeth!" he retorted. "I am thinking that it is wonderful that we have a whole day to spend with each other before we have to see anyone else!"

"I wish we had longer," she responded sadly. "I really would love to spend a week with you, undisturbed. Just the two of us."

"Me, too, honestly. Didn't you say something about your parents wanting to have a reception in Hamilton for us?"

"I did," she confirmed, confusion in her voice. "But, I would hardly call that being undisturbed."

"No, that wouldn't. But, it would take us a few days to get there and come home," he told her with a grin. "No one knows us on a train! We could do whatever we wanted. We will never see those people again!"

"Jack Thornton, are you suggesting that we spend our honeymoon on a train?"

"Sure? Why not? We will have our own compartment. First class and we will even have a porter. We don't have to leave the bed if we don't want to. Wouldn't all of that rocking feel amazing?"

Elizabeth blushed prettily. She was glad that he couldn't see her face.

"Are you able to take some time away?" she asked him, trying to redirect his thoughts.

"If I am not needed in Athabasca, then I am sure I could convince my superiors that I am in need of a little R & R."

"Well, I have school for two more months, so we couldn't do anything until then, anyway, and Mother would insist on at least that much time to prepare for the party. Would you know by then?"

"Two months? Your mother needs two months to plan a party? How is that even possible when Hope Valley threw us a whole wedding in three days?"

"It isn't as simple as that, Jack," Elizabeth said, feeling somewhat defensive.

"A wedding is simple? Compared to a reception?"

"Well, yes… In Hamilton, anyway. There will need to be Save the Date cards sent out while the invitations are made and then sent out. Mother will have to arrange the guest list, first of course. Then, there will be the menu to plan, they will have to see if they can find a location to rent out, flowers to be ordered and a cake, as well. Of course, we will have to send your measurements for your evening wear and Mother will want to order me a suitable dress, as well."

"Whoa… Wait….," Jack said, his head spinning. "What's all of this? It sounds like this will be more like a wedding than our wedding. Evening wear? Location? What about your parents' house. You know… The one that looks like a mansion?"

"Well, I supposed you could wear your uniform if you would rather," Elizabeth added flippantly, not catching the true meaning behind Jack's words.

"I think that at my own wedding reception, I should wear whatever I would like, don't you?" he asked her. "I mean, I was able to choose what I wore for our wedding. Shouldn't I have the same liberty there?"

"Oh, Jack," Elizabeth said, "the people coming to this will be expecting a certain level of…. sophistication. Everyone will be in eveningwear, not just you. But, if you feel that adamant about it, your uniform will be fine."

"How did this turn from you and me spending some time alone to a whole production?"

"It's just…. It's just what's done, Jack. I can't change the rules. I promised my parents that we would do this if we married in Hope Valley and there will be a level of expectation that goes along with it. I am sorry that you find that less than desirable, but I can't do a thing about it!"

He felt a tear drop off her nose and onto his chest. "Great," he thought to himself. "Married less than half a day and we are already fighting."

"Shhhh… sweetheart, don't cry. It's fine. I will wear whatever I have to wear. I am sorry that I was so combative. I guess I still have a lot to learn in terms of what the expectations will be now that I am part of your family."

"I'm sorry, Jack," she sniffed. "I don't like it any more than you do, but it is simply how things are done."

"I know, Elizabeth. But, you have to understand, darling… This is all new to me. I am just a country boy; I know nothing about how the other half lives. Truth be told, I overreacted because I am nervous."

"Nervous?"

"Yes! You saw what a disaster it was when I had dinner with you in Hamilton and that was with your family. Now, I will face the same level of scrutiny with people who aren't obligated to at least try and be nice."

"I know," she told him, having thought the same thing. She secretly wondered if people would be deliberated cruel to him and about them to prove a point. Her rejection of Charles had hit the Hamilton social scene hard. Charles Kensington was seen as one of the most eligible bachelors in town and when he was rejected for the affections of a country bumpkin Mountie, the troops had rallied around him. Never before in anyone's recent memory had an heiress such as Elizabeth turned their back on tradition and chosen someone who was beneath them. Occasionally it had happened that men from their social status would find a woman of a lower station to marry, but that was much more understandable and accepted. A woman didn't work, anyway: Her job was to run a household and keep children. The man was the one expected to maintain a certain standard of living and that was possible whether his wife was rich or poor. But a woman actively choosing to forego the certain securities and luxuries afforded to her by marrying well? That simply was not done.

Charles had done well for himself since Elizabeth's rejection, but his heart was still thoroughly broken, having imagined Elizabeth as his wife since he was a boy. While he dallied around town with a different woman on his arm almost every weekend, he still had not made any overtures about settling down. His heart had hoped that eventually Elizabeth would see reason and come home, broken hearted would be best, so that he could step in a comfort her. But, that hadn't happened and Elizabeth was sure that their circle of friends would put Jack through the ringer just as a show of solidarity for one of their own.

After each of them again lapsed into a long period of silence, Jack decided he had better change the subject before they disagreed again. "Elizabeth?"

"Hmmmm?" she mumbled, Jack's bulk and warmth next to her lulling her back to sleep.

He smiled as he stroked her hair. "Sweetheart? It's Sunday. Do you want to get up and go to church?"

She stretched against him and opened her eyes. "Do you?"

"Honestly?"

"Yes."

"Not particularly," he answered her. "And not because I am a heathen!" he added as a joke, thinking back to when she had declared him uncouth for showing up late to services. "I would rather spend my only full, uninterrupted day with my new, beautiful wife at home."

"Good!" she exclaimed, relief clear in her tone of voice.

"I beg your pardon?" he asked her, confused. He was sure she would want to attend.

She looked up at him, her blue eyes wide. "Jack, I would be mortified!"

"Why is that?"

"Because we just got married a little more than fifteen hours ago!"

"So?"

"So people will look at us and know what we did last night!" she exclaimed.

"Don't forget this morning!" he added, his voice full of masculine pride. "Twice in less than twelve hours. That has to be some of record, hasn't it?"

She couldn't help it: She began to laugh, her shame giving way to mirth. "Jack Thornton, you are going to be the death of me!"

"Elizabeth, in all seriousness, we have nothing to be ashamed of. Everyone will know what we did just as much tomorrow as they will today."

"I know!" she said, her cheeks flaming. "But, tomorrow they won't know that we made love the night before!"

"Because we won't?" he asked, his voice a combination of disappointment and confusion.

"I didn't say that!" she replied, upset that she wasn't conveying her meaning. "I mean that everyone will know that we made love on our wedding night, of course. But every night after, it will just be speculative!"

He chortled. "I think, sweetheart, that anyone who has been married pretty much assumes that newlyweds make love every night. In fact, at every opportunity they get!"

"But, it isn't a given, like it is on a wedding night!" Elizabeth argued again.

Suddenly, in a moment of silence, they heard someone yelling, "Oh for goodness sakes, Jack! Just stay home with your wife!"

They looked at each other and burst out laughing. He hugged Elizabeth tighter to him as he shouted back, "All right, Rosemary. You win!"


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorry for the delay in writing. Things have been very busy as of late.

**Someone has expressed through the reviews their extreme dislike of my story. As an author, I am glad to see that my writing has evoked such passion from someone, whether it be good or bad. While a person's opinion is theirs to share, I apologize on behalf of this person who is seemingly incapable of writing a coherent review that is not profanity laden. I have added profanity filters through my account, so I hope that those words will be blocked from here on out, but it doesn't seem to have much effect on past reviews. I will also state the obvious in that if anyone does not like my story they are under no obligation to keep reading. Enjoy! 

Homecoming-Chapter 15

"Jack!" Elizabeth moaned, hiding her face in his chest, mortified beyond belief that Rosemary had obviously heard their conversation and God only knew what else.

He chuckled softly. "Still too embarrassed to go to church"

"Yes!" she cried. "Now, even more so!"

"Well, that settles it! I am going to start working on our house as soon as possible! I definitely want to get some space between us and our neighbors!"

"The sooner the better!" she concurred.

Jack gave her a quick squeeze and then slid out from under her, then bent down and pulled on his drawers carelessly thrown on the floor the night before. "Better see to that fire," he said, cheeks reddening from being overheard and the newness of being naked in front of his bride.

As he walked past the window he first glanced at it, then stopped to study it further. "Elizabeth, did you know that your window is open a little?"

"Oh! I guess I forgot to make sure it shut all the way yesterday! I opened it to get some fresh air in here when Rosemary got a little crazy with some perfume she wanted me to try."

"Sweetheart," he began patiently, "you do realize that leaving your windows unlocked is incredibly dangerous? I hope that you didn't do that regularly while I was gone!"

Elizabeth sat up in the bed and gave him a mock salute. "Yes, sir!" she told him.

He shut the window with flourish and finality, while telling her, "I am serious, Elizabeth! Please promise me that you won't do that again whenever I am not here. It is dangerous and it also explains why it was so cold in here this morning, not to mention it explains how Rosemary heard us."

Elizabeth saw the concern in his eyes and decided to drop it. She knew that he was only trying to protect her because he loved her. She didn't really think that there was a lot of risk of bodily harm befalling her in Hope Valley, especially through a second story window, but she understood that with his career choice, he might not always think the best of people. In fact, quite often, while friendly, he did seem to be guarded and cautious around strangers when they first came to town until he got to know them better and could better gauge their intentions.

She got out of bed, standing to wrap her arms around his waist. When he looked down at her, her expression contrite, he couldn't help by give her a wry smile.

"I am just glad I didn't know that you were doing that while I was away, or I never would have been able to relax for a minute!"

"I'm sorry, Jack! I guess I am complacent living here. Nothing bad seems to happen, and when it does, you take care of it."

"Thank you!" he said, relieved that she seemed to understand his concerns. "I only want you to be safe, Elizabeth. I know that nothing out of the ordinary has happened in here in a long time, but I am sure that once again you will soon be fodder for all of the society pages in newspapers around the country and we don't need to go borrowing trouble in case someone is looking to make a quick fortune by trying to rob you… Or worse!"

"If someone tries to rob us, they are too stupid to not be in jail, since my husband is a Mountie!"

"A Mountie who will be gone from time to time, don't forget."

Suddenly, Elizabeth looked stricken.

"What is it?" he asked her, completely bemused.

"Are you going to really be gone all that much?" she asked him in a quiet voice.

"I don't know. I hope not. But, it will happen occasionally, for sure, and I don't want you to be vulnerable. I worry especially now with the railroad having come to town. Before, we knew almost everyone; but now, anyone can ride in and ride out at any given time. It makes us more of a target than the towns that don't have the rail. Easier access means more crime; it is a given."

Elizabeth was looking at him with something akin to hunger in her eyes. He stopped talking and cocked his head to the side. "What?" he asked her.

"Nothing! You are just kinda cute when you talk law enforcement."

"Oh. So we are back to just 'kinda cute' now, are we?"

Elizabeth smiled and shook her head, moving closer to him. "How about I love it when you talk law enforcement and get all in charge and protective. It is very… captivating."

"Like the handcuffs you wanted to try out?"

"Perhaps," Elizabeth added coyly as she pulled on and closed her robe around her body. "What can I do that will allow me to be arrested and taken to jail with the local Mountie for the night?"

Suddenly a strange look crossed Jack's face. "What?" Elizabeth asked him, perplexed by his sudden demeanor change.

"It just dawned on me that if I arrest someone, I will have to stay with them in the jail and not come home!"

"Oh!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "I hadn't thought about that, either. That is a most unfortunate part of your job description, isn't it?"

"Elizabeth," Jack said, his eyes sad. "I am serious! I never even thought about that. I mean, logically, I know that I have to stay there whenever I have a prisoner detained, but when I thought about the nights I would have to be away from you, I always just imagined they would be ones when I was traveling somewhere. Now, I realize it will be even more often than I thought!"

"It's alright, Jack. I promise! Somehow it will seem easier if I know you are in town. At least I know I can get to you if need be."

"And what need would that be, Elizabeth?"

"Oh, I don't know. Perhaps if I need help with opening a jar, or," Elizabeth continued as she walked closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Maybe if I get lonely?" She stretched up to kiss him on the lips.

He couldn't help but kiss her back, even with his feelings of defeat about having to be away from her more than he already had resigned to be. After a few moments, he broke from their clinch and looked down at her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to her, placing his forehead on hers. "I was so selfish asking you to marry me. I didn't think everything through."

"Jack, honestly, it is alright! I am used to being alone at night you know, so it won't be a horrific thing if I need to be every now and again. But, I know one way you can lessen having to worry about it."

"How's that?" he asked her.

"Just make sure that you are very thorough with your job during the day so that you can prevent crime before it happens!"

"You mean like making sure my wife closes and locks the windows every night before she goes to bed ?" he asked with a smirk on his face.

Elizabeth heaved a big sigh. Of course it would come back to that. "Alright, Constable. Consider it done!"

"Thank you!" he sighed in relief.

"Now, I am getting really cold. How about you go and stoke that fire or you join me back in bed. Your choice." She ran back across the frigid boards, pulling her robe off as she traveled, leaving it in a heap on the floor before jumping in and covering her lithe body with the quilts.

"You strip down in front of me and ask me what my choice is?" he grinned as he quickly stepped out of his drawers. "The fire can wait!"

And wait the fire did as they fully enjoyed each other. Each time they made love, Elizabeth felt a little more in control of what was happening and Jack was gaining more confidence. As they felt like they were better in charge of their faculties, they were better able to focus on bringing the other one pleasure and their unions were getting better and better with each encounter.

Afterwards, Jack snuggled into his bride and pulled her closer to him as he fell back asleep. Several hours later, they awoke embracing each other and enjoying the indescribable sensation of skin-on-skin contact. He rolled over onto his back and her head rested on his strong shoulder. He entwined his hand in hers and she noticed the glint that bounced off his ring.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"For what?" he asked, confused. He didn't think he had done anything that warranted her gratitude since waking up just a few minutes before.

Elizabeth brought their hands up to her mouth and kissed his ring. "For this. For wearing a ring. I didn't expect it, so it really was a surprise. But, I am so happy that you are."

"I wouldn't want it any other way," he declared solemnly. "I want the entire world to see that my heart belongs to you!"

"I appreciate that! I just thought that with how physical your job is and how the men tend to harass those of you who get married, I figured you wouldn't want to advertise it."

"My job is physical, you are right in that. However, so is a farmer's, a black smith's, or a carpenter's, and those who live in town all wear rings anyway. I figure if they can do it, so can I. But, as for the cost, don't worry about that. It was my father's ring. My mother gave it to me when she came to visit before I got hurt. I think it was her way of saying that she approved of you. She told me that he would have loved you and that he would want me to wear his ring as a token of his best wishes for a marriage as fulfilling as theirs."

"I love you!" she told him softly as she held their hands up towards the ceiling so she could admire the silvery band that encased his finger.

"I love you, as well," he said as he bent his head down to kiss the top of her head. "But, I really need to get that fire going. I am sure it is now completely out and the stove is most likely all the way cold now. Just stay here and I will be back soon."

Elizabeth lay in what was now their bed and listened as Jack pounded down the stairs and into the main room. She heard when he opened the door to the stove and carefully places the bigger logs and then the smaller kindling in beside it and then she heard him start to laugh.

Her curiosity was peaked and she called downstairs, "What is it, Jack?"

He was still laughing too hard to have heard her, but she felt too lazy to actually rouse herself out of the warm, soft bed and descending down to the cold first floor, so she waited until he stopped laughing and then detected the distinct sound of his striking a match, followed by his shutting of the stove door with finality. He must have stood there for a few minutes, because Elizabeth dozed a little until she awoke to his lifting the covers and slipping back in beside her. He pulled her warm body into his and she shivered in response. His skin was like ice because he had run downstairs without any clothing but his drawers.

"Brrr!" Elizabeth cried.

"What are you complaining about?" Jack demanded good-naturedly. "I am the one who ventured out into the freezing house to light a fire!"

"Thank you!" she told him politely.

"My pleasure!" he responded as he began to nuzzle the crook of her neck and wrapped a cold hand around her breast. "It was well worth it when I know who was awaiting my return to warm me up!"

"Why were you laughing?" she asked him.

"Oh! As I was ripping up yesterday's paper for some extra help starting the fire, I saw that for all the embarrassment earlier, today is not Sunday!"

"It's not?" she asked, confused.

"Nope! It is Saturday! I don't know why I awoke thinking that we had to go to church today, but instead, we don't have to go anywhere!"

"Oh, thank goodness!" Elizabeth cried, grateful that they had a perfectly legitimate excuse to stay tucked away in the small little row house, not having to see anyone.

"So," Jack asked, "what do you want to do instead?"

Elizabeth's face contorted slightly with concentration. "Honestly?" she asked. "I don't know! We have never had so much time to be together with nothing or no one else disturbing us. Now that I have you all to myself, I can't think of what I want to do with you."

"I can think of plenty I want to do with you!" he countered, a naughty schoolboy smile engraved on his face.

"Well, that's a given, but what do we do for the rest of the time?"

In the lull between the conversation, as they both were thinking on what they should do, pondering the endless possibilities and which one they should do first, Jack's stomach growled loudly.

"Well, I guess I am hungry!" he laughed. "I suppose the first thing we should do is eat breakfast."

"Mmmmmm…" Elizabeth stretched, instantly catching Jack attention. "But I don't want to get out of this bed, honestly. It is still cold in here!"

"Come on, lazy bones! It will be warmer downstairs!" he countered as he held his hand out to her.

As she stood up and grabbed her robe, he began to make the bed. She turned around and saw him and asked, "Why are you doing that?"

"What?"

"Making the bed!"

"Oh! I don't know… Shouldn't I? I always make the bed before I eat breakfast. Don't you?"

"No!" Elizabeth said, shaking her head. "I make it after breakfast, after I get dressed, if I make it at all…"

Jack stood frozen in place, his head tipped to the side, looking at her.

"What?" she demanded.

"You sometimes don't make the bed?"

"Ummm… no?" she answered hesitantly. "Do you always make yours?"

"Yes! Of course! I grew up with a Mountie. What do you think?"

"I guess I never thought about it before. Now that you mention it, the beds in a jail are always made up. I just thought, though, that you had to do it."

"I do have to do it!" he argued. "I cannot stand getting into an unmade bed every night. It doesn't bother you?"

"No, not really. Sometimes it is just more work than it is worth."

In that instant, something dawned on him. "Elizabeth?" he asked her. "Did you ever make a bed before you came here?"

There was a long pause before she answered quietly. "No."

"You never made a bed before you came West?"

"Jack! That's what the servants were for!"

He was planted in place, totally unsure of what to even say.

"Don't look at me like that, Jack!" Elizabeth cried, hiding her face in her hands. She peeked through her fingers at him to see that he was smiling.

"What?" she cried when he didn't answer.

"I just have never met anyone who didn't know how to make a bed until they were in their twenties!"

"I knew how! I just never had to!"

"Ah! Big difference!" he chuckled.

She gave him her scary teacher face and lunged at him, when he caught her wrists in his hands and pulled her to him. "I love you!" he declared before bending down and giving her a kiss.

"Lucky for you right now, I love you, too!" she answered, smiling.

"Shall we make the bed together?" he asked.

"Oh, I see how you are going to do this. You are going to volunteer to help me just so you get to do it when you want to!" she accused him.

"Yup!" he replied with a laugh.

"Careful, Thornton, or you might just end up doing this chore, too!"

"What would you do when I am not home?"

"Do it when I want… If at all!"

"Fair enough!" he said laughed he lifted up the quilts on his side. "It isn't like it will be made by the time we are through celebrating my homecoming, anyway!"

When they were through making their bed, he took her hand and they walked down the stairs. Abigail had handed Elizabeth a big basket food when she had been there the day before helping Elizabeth to get ready. She had put the food that would spoil, the eggs, milk, cheese, chicken, and sliced ham, in her ice box, but hadn't really looked at much else. She was thrilled when she pulled back the towel to find an abundance of scones, muffins and biscuits. With hearing her gasp of delight, Jack put his hands on her shoulders and peered over her right side to see what had delighted her.

"Good grief!" he said, "Just how many people does she think were here on our wedding night, anyway?"

"I think she was more concerned with making sure you were eating well after recent events."

"I know I worked up an appetite between last night and this morning, but just how much energy does she think I am burning here?"

"Jack!' Elizabeth laughed. "I meant your time up North!"

"Oh!" he laughed. "That makes a lot more sense and is a lot less embarrassing!"

"Do you want coffee or tea?"

"I suppose with scones, I would rather have tea," he answered her. "But, I feel like I could sure use a some coffee!"

"So, have both!"

Jack frowned at Elizabeth. "That's a little decadent, don't you think?"

She looked strangely back at him. "I didn't realize that having two separate beverages in the morning was considered luxurious. You will die of shock whenever we go back to my parents' house in Hamilton, then, where we also have orange juice and even sometimes, champagne!"

Jack snorted. "Why am I not surprised?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Elizabeth asked, hands on her hips.

"I just mean that for most people, orange juice, and especially champagne at breakfast, is a luxury they could potentially go their whole lives without having."

"Oh, so I am spoiled that we had orange juice growing up?"

"You said it; I didn't!"

Suddenly, Elizabeth sighed and a faraway look came over her features. "Oh, how I sometimes miss orange juice for breakfast, especially on a special occasion! I am sorry that many people don't know just how amazing it is to have orange juice at breakfast. I guess I never actually thought about that it was a luxury before."

"Well, it is!" Jack said, sounding a bit sullen.

"Have you ever had orange juice for breakfast?"

"Yes," Jack confirmed. "A couple of times."

"Only a couple?"

"Yes!" Jack affirmed. "Look, Elizabeth, for most Canadians, oranges are kind of a rare treat. I think the only time we ever had them when I was a kid was at Christmas time. We usually got one each in our stockings."

"What?" Elizabeth cried, her shock evident.

"Yes, Elizabeth, and I would bet that Tom and my experience is much more in line with the average Canadian than yours. It isn't exactly like we have the weather to grow oranges here!"

"I know that logically… I guess I just never thought about it before. In fact, I haven't thought of orange juice with breakfast for the entire time I have been here until today. I guess it was sort of out of sight, out of mind…"

"But, back to your original comment. I don't think that having tea and coffee at the same time is decadent because of the cost. I am thinking more along the lines of up north, there wasn't a whole lot of time to linger over a leisurely breakfast. Frozen oatmeal was not appetizing! I am going to have to learn to get back to more of a civilian schedule, I guess, because I don't you want me to clear my plate in 30 seconds and then go back to what I was doing at every meal, right?"

"Well, you are home now, Jack, and we have nowhere to go and nothing planned to do, so I say you should be a decadent as you want!"

Jack smiled mischievously at her. "As decadent as I want, eh?"

A little uncertain what he was planning, she looked suspiciously at him and barely nodded her head.

"Well, then, I think that what I want is to drink my coffee…" he said slowly and paused.

"Uh-huh?" Elizabeth prodded.

"And eat my scone… Or maybe two…"

"Alright…"

"In bed…"

"I am sure that can be arranged!" she told him with a shy grin.

"With your naked body as my plate!"

Her eyes opened wide in surprise. "Jack!" she admonished.

"Indulge me! Please? I am a newly married man…"

Instead of answering, she turned around without a word and headed back towards the stairs, letting her robe slide down her shoulders to a puddle on the floor.

"Thank you, Abigail, for packing so much food," he whispered to himself with glee.


End file.
